A patient diagnosed with depersonalization disorder tells the ...

[rl]

A patient diagnosed with depersonalization disorder tells the nurse, It's starting again. I feel as though I'm going to float away. Which intervention would be most appropriate at this point?
 
  a. Notify the health care provider of this change in the patient's behavior.
  b. Engage the patient in a physical activity such as exercise.
  c. Isolate the patient until the sensation has diminished.
  d. Administer a PRN dose of anti-anxiety medication.

Question 2

A patient states, I feel detached and weird all the time. It is as though I am looking at life through a cloudy window. Everything seems unreal. It really messes up things at work and school. This scenario is most suggestive of which health problem?
 
  a. Acute stress disorder
  b. Dissociative amnesia
  c. Depersonalization disorder
  d. Disinhibited social engagement disorder

[choc0chan]

Answer to Question 1

ANS: B
Helping the patient apply a grounding technique, such as exercise, assists the patient to interrupt the dissociative process. Medication can help reduce anxiety but does not directly interrupt the dissociative process. Isolation would allow the sensation to overpower the patient. It is not necessary to notify the health care provider.

Answer to Question 2

ANS: C
Depersonalization disorder involves a persistent or recurrent experience of feeling detached from and outside oneself. Although reality testing is intact, the experience causes significant impairment in social or occupational functioning and distress to the individual. Dissociative amnesia involves memory loss. Children with disinhibited social engagement disorder demonstrate no normal fear of strangers and are unusually willing to go off with strangers. Individuals with ASD experience three or more dissociative symptoms associated with a traumatic event, such as a subjective sense of numbing, detachment, or absence of emotional responsiveness; a reduction in awareness of surroundings; derealization; depersonalization or dissociative amnesia. In the scenario, the patient experiences only one symptom.