Author Question: A nurse interviews a 17-year-old patient and notes these assessment data: excessive grooming, ... (Read 59 times)

bobypop · **on:** Jul 19, 2018

A nurse interviews a 17-year-old patient and notes these assessment data: excessive grooming, checking in the mirror, and preoccupation with perceived physical imperfec-tions. The nurse suspects:

a. Hypochondriasis
b. Factitious disorder
c. Somatoform disorder
d. Body dysmorphic disorder

Question 2

A patient comes to the ED stating that he suddenly became deaf. It is determined that his wife has recently asked for a divorce. What is the basis for the possibility that this patient is experiencing a conversion disorder?

a. Inventing the symptom helps in diverting attention from the marital problems.
b. Such a traumatic life change is likely to result in some form of mental illness.
c. The loss is a protective mechanism to help deal with overwhelming anxiety.
d. Men often exhibit this disorder since it is more accepted than showing sadness.

dantucker · **Reply #1 on:** Jul 19, 2018

Answer to Question 1

ANS: D
These symptoms are indicative of a body dysmorphic disorder.

Answer to Question 2

ANS: C
The scenario suggests that the patient is experiencing symptoms of conversion disorder, an anxiety disorder in which the symptom affects voluntary sensory or motor function and mimics a neurological disorder as a result of extreme anxiety, such as learning of his wife's desire to divorce him. There is no organic basis for the hearing loss but it is not under the pa-tient's voluntary control. Most traumas are not dealt with by developing a mental illness but by rather coping effectively. Males are as likely as females to display conversion disorder symptoms.