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The nurse is caring for a female adolescent client diagnosed with depression and substance abuse. Which of the following would be most appropriate for the nurse to do?
- A. Determine if the client is experiencing hyperactivity.
- B. Ask her if she is having thoughts of harming herself.
- C. Determine if the client is exhibiting Wernicke?s syndrome.
- D. Ask the client if she has had problems with excessive anxiety.
Correct Answer: B
Rationale: Asking about suicidal thoughts (B) is most appropriate, as depression in adolescents with substance abuse significantly increases suicide risk, requiring immediate assessment. Hyperactivity (A) is less relevant, Wernicke?s syndrome (C) is specific to thiamine deficiency in alcoholism, and anxiety (D) is secondary to suicide risk.
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When describing the relapse cycle to a group of families of clients experiencing co-occurring disorders, which of the following would the nurse identify as occurring first?
- A. Hospitalization
- B. Decompensation
- C. Stabilization
- D. Discharge
Correct Answer: B
Rationale: Decompensation (B) occurs first in the relapse cycle, as psychiatric symptoms worsen, leading to substance use, hospitalization (A), stabilization (C), and discharge (D).
A nurse is working with a client with depression and substance abuse on ways to promote recovery. Which of the following would be most important for the nurse to include? Select all that apply.
- A. A positive social network
- B. Compliance to treatment
- C. Avoidance of hospitalization
- D. Supportive housing
- E. Community vocational rehabilitation
Correct Answer: A,B,D,E
Rationale: A positive social network (A), treatment compliance (B), supportive housing (D), and vocational rehabilitation (E) promote recovery by addressing social, medical, and practical needs. Avoiding hospitalization (C) is not a goal, as it may be necessary for stabilization.
A nurse is teaching a group of hospitalized clients who have co-occurring disorders involving cognitive disorders and alcoholism about the relapse cycle. Which statement would the nurse most likely include during this teaching session?
- A. After you are discharged, there is a tendency to use alcohol rather than your prescribed medications to self-medicate your psychiatric symptoms. This allows your psychiatric symptoms to surface again, and they, in turn, lead to rehospitalization. Your symptoms are again controlled with medications until you are discharged, and the cycle starts all over again.
- B. Your alcoholism causes you to hallucinate, and you need to take prescribed medications to control the hallucinations. When you try to stop drinking and stay abstinent, your hallucinations disappear; consequently, you stop taking your prescribed medications because they?re gone. Then you celebrate with alcohol, and this triggers a relapse; the alcoholism causes hallucinations, and the whole thing starts over again.
- C. Your dependence on alcohol and your psychiatric illness are unrelated. Experiencing disturbing thoughts does not cause alcoholism, and alcoholism does not cause your disturbing thoughts. It all boils down to medication compliance.
- D. The cycle is triggered by repeated attempts to stop drinking. Without the levels of alcohol your system has come to tolerate, you begin to develop psychiatric symptoms. Then you have to be hospitalized and treated for your psychosis again. Everything is fine until the next time you try to stop drinking, and then the cycle repeats itself.
Correct Answer: A
Rationale: Option A accurately describes the relapse cycle in co-occurring disorders, where clients use alcohol to self-medicate psychiatric symptoms, leading to symptom recurrence, rehospitalization, and repeated cycles due to medication non-adherence. Option B incorrectly ties alcoholism directly to hallucinations, option C oversimplifies the relationship, and option D misattributes psychiatric symptoms to alcohol withdrawal.
The nurse is planning a presentation for a group of mental health care providers on the topic of co-occurring disorders. The nurse plans to include information about health care providers and their response to these clients. Which of the following would the nurse include as a major reason for these clients being often underserved and undertreated?
- A. Providers often focus treatment on the 12-step programs for substance abuse treatment.
- B. They commonly underdiagnose personality disorders in those who take illicit substances.
- C. Providers commonly ignore the existence of concurrent mental health disorders.
- D. They have difficulty determining which problem is in most immediate need.
Correct Answer: C
Rationale: Providers often ignore concurrent mental health disorders (C), focusing solely on substance abuse, which leads to undertreatment of co-occurring disorders. Option A is less accurate, as 12-step programs are not the primary focus of providers. Option B is specific to personality disorders, not the broader issue. Option D is a challenge but not the primary reason.
A nurse is working as part of an interdisciplinary treatment team for a client diagnosed with a mental illness and substance abuse disorder. As part of the recovery process, which of the following would be most important for the team to do initially?
- A. Provide a series of short-term hospitalizations that apply leverage to pressure the client into adhering to a prescribed treatment regimen.
- B. Establish rules that will enhance the client?s recognition of staff as authority figures who know what is best for the client?s care and well-being.
- C. Use heavy confrontation, intense emotional pressure, and discouragement of the use of medications since all medications have the potential to be addictive.
- D. Provide immediate help with a situational crisis the client is experiencing to promote trust in the client and have the client buy into the treatment process.
Correct Answer: D
Rationale: Providing immediate help with a situational crisis (D) builds trust, a critical first step for engaging clients with co-occurring disorders in treatment. Short-term hospitalizations (A) and establishing authority (B) are less effective initially, and heavy confrontation (C) is counterproductive and inappropriate.