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Focusing on test results may invalidate the client’s experience and reinforce the belief that the nurse does not understand her suffering, worsening distress.

Suggesting outside interests implies the symptoms are due to boredom, which trivializes the client’s condition and may be perceived as dismissive or judgmental.

Ignoring the complaints violates the principle of empathy and therapeutic presence, potentially increasing the client’s anxiety and feelings of isolation.

Suggesting volitional control implies the symptoms are intentional, which invalidates the client’s experience and may provoke defensiveness or shame.

Redirecting the conversation to the nurse’s opinion shifts focus away from the client’s concerns, missing an opportunity for therapeutic engagement.

 Asking the client to self-assess volitional control may reinforce guilt, as it implies the client is responsible for the symptoms, which is clinically inappropriate.

 Pain disorder centers on pain as the primary symptom, not motor or neurological deficits like paralysis or pseudo seizures.

Adjustment disorder involves emotional or behavioral symptoms in response to a stressor, not neurological manifestations.

Delirium presents with cognitive impairment and fluctuating consciousness, not isolated motor symptoms or pseudo seizures.

Fear of disease is characteristic of illness anxiety disorder, where the concern is about having a serious illness despite minimal symptoms.

Sensorimotor loss is seen in conversion disorder, not somatic symptom disorder, which involves widespread physical complaints.

Belief in body deformity is typical of body dysmorphic disorder, which involves preoccupation with perceived flaws, not multisystem symptoms.

Denial is a conscious or unconscious refusal to accept reality, but it does not explain the transformation of emotional conflict into physical symptoms.

Suppression is a conscious decision to postpone dealing with distressing emotions, unlike repression which is unconscious and central to somatic symptom disorder.

Displacement involves redirecting emotions to a safer target, not converting them into physical symptoms as seen in somatic presentations.

Eliminating stress is unrealistic and may reinforce avoidance rather than teaching the client how to cope with stressors constructively.

Focusing on discontinuing complaints invalidates the client’s experience, potentially damaging the therapeutic relationship and increasing distress.

Medication adherence is important but does not address the core psychological mechanisms driving the disorder, making it insufficient as a primary nursing goal.