A supervisor assigns a worker a new project. The worker initially agrees but feels resentful. The next day. when asked about the project worker says, “I've been working on Other things."

When asked 4 hours later, the worker says, "Someone else was using the copy machine, so I couldn’t finish it."

The worker's behavior demonstrates:

Borderline personality disorder is a serious mental illness characterized by instability in mood, behaviour, and self-image. Patients with borderline personality disorder are at a high risk of self-harm, suicide, and impulsive behaviours. Therefore, the nurse's priority assessment should be to identify any suicidal or homicidal ideations, as these can be life-threatening emergencies. Once identified, appropriate interventions should be initiated, such as suicide precautions, crisis management, and referral to mental health professionals for further evaluation and treatment.

While sleep patern changes, impulsive behaviours, and support systems are also important aspects to assess in patients with borderline personality disorder, they are not the priority when compared to suicidal or homicidal ideations.

Cognitive therapy is a type of psychotherapy that focuses on identifying and changing negative thought patterns and beliefs that contribute to psychological distress. In this case, the single parent is experiencing feelings of inadequacy related to work and family since one teenaged child ran away 2 weeks ago. The cognitive therapist would work with the client to identify any negative or distorted thoughts they may be having about themselves, their situation, and their ability to cope.

Through cognitive therapy, the therapist would help the client learn how to challenge and change their negative thoughts and beliefs, replacing them with more realistic and positive ones. The goal of cognitive therapy is to help the client develop new coping skills and ways of thinking that will enable them to better manage their emotions and improve their overall well-being.

Option b, negatively reinforcing an undesirable behavior every day to avoid it, is not a component of cognitive therapy. This approach is more aligned with behavioral therapy, which focuses on modifying behaviors through reinforcement and punishment.

Option c, focusing on conscious mental processes, is partially correct, as cognitive therapy does focus on conscious mental processes. However, this alone does not fully capture the essence of cognitive therapy.

Option d, always discussing Freud ego stages, is not relevant to cognitive therapy, as it is a psychoanalytic approach developed by Freud that focuses on the unconscious mind and early childhood experiences.