After several therapeutic encounters with a patient who recently attempted suicide, which occurrence should cause the nurse to consider the possibility of countertransference?
The nurse develops a trusting relationship with the patient
The patient states, “Talking to you feels like talking to my parents.”
The patient’s reactions toward the nurse seem realistic and appropriate
The nurse feels extremely happy when the patient’s mood begins to lift
The Correct Answer is D
Choice A reason: A trusting relationship is the goal of therapeutic alliances, not countertransference. It reflects effective communication, calming amygdala-driven distress in suicidal patients. This is a normal outcome, not an emotional overreaction, making it an incorrect indicator of countertransference in psychiatric care.
Choice B reason: The patient comparing the nurse to parents suggests transference, not countertransference. Transference involves patient projections, often tied to past emotional patterns, not nurse emotions. This is unrelated to the nurse’s feelings, making it an incorrect choice for countertransference concerns.
Choice C reason: Realistic patient reactions indicate a healthy therapeutic dynamic, not countertransference. Appropriate responses align with stabilizing neurobiological states, like serotonin balance in depression. This reflects effective care, not nurse emotional overinvolvement, making it an incorrect indicator of countertransference in this context.
Choice D reason: Extreme happiness tied to the patient’s mood improvement suggests countertransference, where the nurse’s emotions, possibly influenced by mirror neuron activation, overly align with the patient’s state. This indicates personal overinvolvement, risking bias in care for suicidal patients with serotonin imbalances, making it the correct choice.
Nursing Test Bank
Naxlex Comprehensive Predictor Exams
Related Questions
Correct Answer is D
Explanation
Choice A reason: Flow and expression are not standard communication model elements. Communication involves sender, receiver, message, and feedback, with neural processing in the cortex enabling understanding. This option omits message, critical for transmitting meaning, making it scientifically incomplete for the communication process.
Choice B reason: Flow is not a recognized component of communication models. Sender, receiver, message, and feedback facilitate information exchange, with neural pathways like the auditory cortex processing signals. Omitting feedback, essential for verifying understanding, renders this option inaccurate for describing communication dynamics.
Choice C reason: Gesture is a channel, not a core element. The communication model includes sender, receiver, message, and feedback, processed via sensory and cognitive neural networks. Excluding the receiver, critical for decoding messages, makes this option incomplete and incorrect for the model’s structure.
Choice D reason: Sender, receiver, message, and feedback are core elements of communication. The sender encodes the message, the receiver decodes it via cortical processing, and feedback confirms understanding. This model reflects neurobiological communication processes, making it the accurate description of the communication framework.
Correct Answer is A
Explanation
Choice A reason: Assessing functioning on a continuum reflects the spectrum of mental health, from optimal to severe impairment. Tools like the Global Assessment of Functioning scale quantify symptom severity and social/occupational performance, integrating neurobiological factors like dopamine imbalances in schizophrenia or serotonin deficits in depression, providing a comprehensive evaluation of mental health status.
Choice B reason: Focusing on intellectual and emotional growth is irrelevant for current functioning. Mental disorders like anxiety or psychosis primarily disrupt mood and cognition, not developmental growth. Neurobiological changes, such as reduced prefrontal cortex activity in depression, affect daily performance, not growth rates, making this metric unsuitable for assessing overall mental health functioning.
Choice C reason: Judging by societal conformity ignores individual neurobiological differences. Mental illnesses, like bipolar disorder, involve altered brain activity (e.g., heightened amygdala response), not just nonconformity. This approach risks mislabeling cultural or personality variations as pathology, disregarding scientific evidence of brain-based dysfunction and hindering accurate assessment of mental health status.
Choice D reason: Assessing logical and rational appearance is insufficient, as disorders like schizophrenia can present with intact logic but severe delusions due to dopamine dysregulation. This overlooks emotional and social impairments, critical in mental health assessment, and fails to capture the full spectrum of neurobiological and functional deficits present in psychiatric conditions.
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