A nurse is caring for a client who has breast cancer and is postoperative following a bilateral mastectomy. Which of the following statements indicates the client has an altered body image?

Choice A reason: Reassuring the client about future children minimizes her current grief and loss, which is inappropriate during initial grieving. This dismisses the emotional significance of the stillbirth, potentially causing distress, making it an insensitive and incorrect action.
Choice B reason: Discouraging friends from seeing the newborn restricts the client’s support system and grieving process. Allowing such interactions can provide closure and comfort, so this action is counterproductive and insensitive, making it incorrect for supporting grief.
Choice C reason: Offering to take pictures of the newborn provides a tangible memory, supporting the client’s grieving process. This sensitive intervention validates the loss and aids emotional healing, aligning with best practices for stillbirth care, making it the correct action.
Choice D reason: Advising against discussing the stillbirth isolates the client and hinders grief processing. Open communication with family fosters support and healing, so this action is harmful and contradicts grief support principles, making it incorrect.

Choice A reason: Ritualistic behavior is linked to obsessive-compulsive personality disorder, not narcissistic personality disorder (NPD). NPD involves self-focused grandiosity, not repetitive rituals driven by anxiety. These distinct psychological mechanisms make ritualistic behavior an unlikely finding in clients with NPD during assessment.
Choice B reason: Suspiciousness is characteristic of paranoid personality disorder, not NPD. While NPD clients may distrust due to ego threats, this is secondary to their grandiose self-view. Suspicion is not a core NPD trait, as their focus is on admiration, not pervasive mistrust.
Choice C reason: Preoccupation with aging is not a primary NPD feature. NPD clients focus on idealized self-image, but aging fears are more tied to body dysmorphic disorder or general anxiety. This preoccupation is not a diagnostic criterion for NPD in psychological assessments.
Choice D reason: A grandiose sense of self is a core NPD feature, marked by exaggerated self-importance and entitlement. Driven by fragile self-esteem, this trait leads to behaviors like boasting, as defined in DSM-5 criteria, making it an expected finding during assessment of NPD clients.