Author Question: The novice nurse is learning about the various theories of psychological development and the ... (Read 82 times)

RYAN BANYAN · **on:** Jul 19, 2018

The novice nurse is learning about the various theories of psychological development and the understanding of self. Which are purposes of Harry Stack Sullivan's self-system that the nurse will learn? Select all that apply.

1. Connection
2. Protection
3. Self-esteem
4. Self-definition
5. Communication

Question 2

The nurse is caring for patient who has major depressive disorder who has recently been terminated from his job. The patient tells the nurse, I just don't know what to do. I identified myself through my work. I don't know who I am anymore.

Which psychological theorist best describes the patient's current identification of self?
1. Erik Erikson
2. William James
3. Abraham Maslow
4. Harry Stack Sullivan

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

Answer to Question 1

Answer: 1, 2, 4
Explanation: Twentieth-century psychiatrist Harry Stack Sullivan built on the work of James and Freud with his emphasis on the impact of the interpersonal experience on the intrapsychic development. He described a self-system consisting of the self-images reflected from interactions with one's environment, the good me, the bad me, and the not me. Sullivan stated that this self-system served three purposes: connection, self-definition, and protection. Communication and self-esteem are not purposes of Sullivan's self-system.

Answer to Question 2

Answer: 2
Explanation: William James established the framework for modern psychology and psychiatry that attends to the person as both one who experiences and is aware of the process of experiencing. It is this concept that explains how a loss of a job may lead to a sense of loss of self. The other theorists listed did not develop the concept linking loss of self to certain meaningful losses such as the loss of a job or moving from a well-loved community.