NURS 3126 PATHO EXAM:DISORDERS OF
THOUGHT,EMOTIONS AND MEMORIES
2023 A+ SUCCESS ASSUARED
What is the term used to identify a person's inability to experience pleasure in
things that use to result in pleasure?
● Anhedonia
Anhedonia is the inability to experience pleasure, while alogia is the tendency to
speak very little. Avolition is the lack of motivation towards goals. Affective
flattening is the lack of emotional expression.
A nurse caring for a client with obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) is
evaluating the treatment regimen. Which data indicate effective treatment?
● Client ordered and ate lunch at a new restaurant.
Clients with OCD use routines to reduce mental distress. Potentially threatening
situations such as meeting new people, visiting a new place, or changing a
schedule may precipitate an increase in ritual behaviors. Three of these options
show the client actively engaging in ritual behaviors. The client who is able to
perform a new behavior is showing improvement.
What is the task of the prefrontal area of the brain?
● Manage information
It is the function of the prefrontal areas to keep track of many bits of information
simultaneously and then to recall this information as needed for subsequent
intellectual tasks.
After surviving an ischemic stroke, a client has demonstrated significant changes
in his emotional behavior, with his family noting that he now experiences wide
mood swings and exaggerated responses of empathy, anger, and sadness to
situations. His care team would most likely attribute these responses to ischemic
changes in which brain structure?
● The components of the client's limbic system
The neural structures that constitute the limbic system are primarily responsible
for the regulation of emotion. The occipital lobe interprets visual information,
,NURS 3126 PATHO EXAM:DISORDERS OF
THOUGHT,EMOTIONS AND MEMORIES
2023 A+ SUCCESS ASSUARED
while language is the domain of the Wernicke area. The parietal lobe processes
sensory input.
A 21-year-old male college student has just been brought to the emergency
department by police. He is agitated and talking about how someone is going to
find him and appears to experiencing hallucinations, though there is no evidence
of substance use. His mother accompanies him and states that he has a history
of similar episodes. The care team should screen this client for which disease?
● Schizophrenia
The psychopathology of schizophrenia involves both positive and negative
symptoms. Positive symptoms reflect the presence of abnormal behaviors and
include incomprehensible speech, delusions, hallucinations, and grossly
disorganized behavior. Mania is marked by episodes of elation and irritability as
well as delusions. Bipolar disorder involves a swing between mania and
depression. Panic disorder does not involve hallucinations.
Although no definite genetic links for specific psychiatric disorders have been
identified, which disorder is thought to be heritable?
● Schizophrenia
The two psychiatric disorders that are thought to be the most heritable,
schizophrenia and bipolar disorder, are now thought to share genetic roots. The
other conditions are not thought to be heritable.
A client who experienced a myocardial infarction 2 weeks ago reports awakening
early, loss of appetite, difficulty sitting still or concentrating, and loss of interest
in personal hobbies. What mental health disorder do these manifestations
represent?
● Major depression
Characteristics of major depression include loss of appetite, early morning
awakening with anorexia and weight loss, psychomotor retardation or agitation,
excessive guilt, loss of interest in activity, or inability to respond to pleasurable
stimuli. About 20% of clients with coronary disease experience major depression.
A client comes to the emergency department complaining of dizziness, rapid
,NURS 3126 PATHO EXAM:DISORDERS OF
THOUGHT,EMOTIONS AND MEMORIES
2023 A+ SUCCESS ASSUARED
breathing, sweating, palpitations, and a feeling of dying. The client has normal
, NURS 3126 PATHO EXAM:DISORDERS OF
THOUGHT,EMOTIONS AND MEMORIES
2023 A+ SUCCESS ASSUARED
laboratory values and has had a cardiac workup. The symptoms persist for 30
minutes and then subside. Which condition is the client exhibiting?
● Panic disorder
A panic attack is a sudden onset of symptoms that last for 15 to 30 minutes in a
client with panic disorder. Generalized anxiety disorder is excessive worry for a
prolonged period along with muscle tension, autonomic hyperactivity, and
vigilance. Obsessive-compulsive disorder is characterized by recurrent thoughts
and actions. Social phobia is an irrational persistent fear of being scrutinized or
evaluated by others.
A client with memory loss is concerned about the possibility that it may be
inherited. Which disorder is an inherited dementia?
● Huntington disease
Huntington disease is an inherited disorder with chorea and dementia. Vascular
dementia occurs as a result of brain injury from hemorrhage or occlusion.
Frontotemporal dementia causes atrophy of the brain but is not
hereditary. Wernicke-Korsakoff syndrome is a result of chronic
alcoholism.
Alzheimer-type dementia follows a progressive course. What is the average
length of survival after diagnosis?
● 8 to 10 years
Alzheimer-type dementia follows an insidious and progressive course, with an
average survival of 8 to 10 years after diagnosis. The hallmark symptoms are loss
of short-term memory and denial of such memory loss, difficulty with language,
and changes in behavior.
Which statement is true regarding schizophrenia?
● It presents with disorganized, positive, and negative symptoms.
Schizophrenia is a chronic debilitating psychotic disorder with disorganized,
positive, and negative symptoms. The onset of the disorder typically occurs in
young adulthood and is rarely diagnosed before adolescence or after middle
THOUGHT,EMOTIONS AND MEMORIES
2023 A+ SUCCESS ASSUARED
What is the term used to identify a person's inability to experience pleasure in
things that use to result in pleasure?
● Anhedonia
Anhedonia is the inability to experience pleasure, while alogia is the tendency to
speak very little. Avolition is the lack of motivation towards goals. Affective
flattening is the lack of emotional expression.
A nurse caring for a client with obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) is
evaluating the treatment regimen. Which data indicate effective treatment?
● Client ordered and ate lunch at a new restaurant.
Clients with OCD use routines to reduce mental distress. Potentially threatening
situations such as meeting new people, visiting a new place, or changing a
schedule may precipitate an increase in ritual behaviors. Three of these options
show the client actively engaging in ritual behaviors. The client who is able to
perform a new behavior is showing improvement.
What is the task of the prefrontal area of the brain?
● Manage information
It is the function of the prefrontal areas to keep track of many bits of information
simultaneously and then to recall this information as needed for subsequent
intellectual tasks.
After surviving an ischemic stroke, a client has demonstrated significant changes
in his emotional behavior, with his family noting that he now experiences wide
mood swings and exaggerated responses of empathy, anger, and sadness to
situations. His care team would most likely attribute these responses to ischemic
changes in which brain structure?
● The components of the client's limbic system
The neural structures that constitute the limbic system are primarily responsible
for the regulation of emotion. The occipital lobe interprets visual information,
,NURS 3126 PATHO EXAM:DISORDERS OF
THOUGHT,EMOTIONS AND MEMORIES
2023 A+ SUCCESS ASSUARED
while language is the domain of the Wernicke area. The parietal lobe processes
sensory input.
A 21-year-old male college student has just been brought to the emergency
department by police. He is agitated and talking about how someone is going to
find him and appears to experiencing hallucinations, though there is no evidence
of substance use. His mother accompanies him and states that he has a history
of similar episodes. The care team should screen this client for which disease?
● Schizophrenia
The psychopathology of schizophrenia involves both positive and negative
symptoms. Positive symptoms reflect the presence of abnormal behaviors and
include incomprehensible speech, delusions, hallucinations, and grossly
disorganized behavior. Mania is marked by episodes of elation and irritability as
well as delusions. Bipolar disorder involves a swing between mania and
depression. Panic disorder does not involve hallucinations.
Although no definite genetic links for specific psychiatric disorders have been
identified, which disorder is thought to be heritable?
● Schizophrenia
The two psychiatric disorders that are thought to be the most heritable,
schizophrenia and bipolar disorder, are now thought to share genetic roots. The
other conditions are not thought to be heritable.
A client who experienced a myocardial infarction 2 weeks ago reports awakening
early, loss of appetite, difficulty sitting still or concentrating, and loss of interest
in personal hobbies. What mental health disorder do these manifestations
represent?
● Major depression
Characteristics of major depression include loss of appetite, early morning
awakening with anorexia and weight loss, psychomotor retardation or agitation,
excessive guilt, loss of interest in activity, or inability to respond to pleasurable
stimuli. About 20% of clients with coronary disease experience major depression.
A client comes to the emergency department complaining of dizziness, rapid
,NURS 3126 PATHO EXAM:DISORDERS OF
THOUGHT,EMOTIONS AND MEMORIES
2023 A+ SUCCESS ASSUARED
breathing, sweating, palpitations, and a feeling of dying. The client has normal
, NURS 3126 PATHO EXAM:DISORDERS OF
THOUGHT,EMOTIONS AND MEMORIES
2023 A+ SUCCESS ASSUARED
laboratory values and has had a cardiac workup. The symptoms persist for 30
minutes and then subside. Which condition is the client exhibiting?
● Panic disorder
A panic attack is a sudden onset of symptoms that last for 15 to 30 minutes in a
client with panic disorder. Generalized anxiety disorder is excessive worry for a
prolonged period along with muscle tension, autonomic hyperactivity, and
vigilance. Obsessive-compulsive disorder is characterized by recurrent thoughts
and actions. Social phobia is an irrational persistent fear of being scrutinized or
evaluated by others.
A client with memory loss is concerned about the possibility that it may be
inherited. Which disorder is an inherited dementia?
● Huntington disease
Huntington disease is an inherited disorder with chorea and dementia. Vascular
dementia occurs as a result of brain injury from hemorrhage or occlusion.
Frontotemporal dementia causes atrophy of the brain but is not
hereditary. Wernicke-Korsakoff syndrome is a result of chronic
alcoholism.
Alzheimer-type dementia follows a progressive course. What is the average
length of survival after diagnosis?
● 8 to 10 years
Alzheimer-type dementia follows an insidious and progressive course, with an
average survival of 8 to 10 years after diagnosis. The hallmark symptoms are loss
of short-term memory and denial of such memory loss, difficulty with language,
and changes in behavior.
Which statement is true regarding schizophrenia?
● It presents with disorganized, positive, and negative symptoms.
Schizophrenia is a chronic debilitating psychotic disorder with disorganized,
positive, and negative symptoms. The onset of the disorder typically occurs in
young adulthood and is rarely diagnosed before adolescence or after middle
