An involuntarily hospitalized client tells the nurse: "Get me the forms for discharge against medical advice (AMA) so I leave the hospital now." What is the registered nurse's best initial response?
Select one:

The child is striving for independence.” The behaviors described by the parent are typical for a child who is 26 months old. At this age, children are beginning to develop a sense of autonomy and independence, and they may resist direction and assert their own will. Toilet training can also be a challenging process for both children and parents, and it is not uncommon for children to resist or refuse toilet training at first.

Option a. “The child needs more control. You have been weak” is not a helpful response because it places blame on the parent and does not provide any useful information or guidance.

Option b. “Some undesirable attitudes are developing currently. A child psychologist can help you develop a remedial plan” may be an appropriate response if the child’s behaviors were significantly outside the norm for their age or if they were causing significant distress or disruption. However, based on the information provided by the parent, this does not appear to be the case.

Option d. “There may be developmental problems. Most children are toilet trained by age 2 years and a half” is not a helpful response because it may cause unnecessary worry or concern for the parent. While many children are toilet trained by age 2 and a half, there is a wide range of normal variation in when children achieve this milestone.

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.