Boardvitals (PMHNP) Flashcards
Paranoid personality disorder involves a number of key characteristics. Which of the following is a key characteristic of paranoid personality disorder?
A. It is characterized by mistrust of others.
B. It is seen with a 30% prevalence among the general population.
C. Long-term treatment with medication is not needed.
D. A decreased incidence in families with a history of schizophrenia and delusional disorder.
Answer: A
It is characterized by mistrust of others.
Paranoid personality disorder involves pervasive distrust and suspiciousness of others. Patients with paranoid personality disorder often suspect that others are exploiting or deceiving them, and are preoccupied with doubts about the loyalty of friends, associates, and romantic partners. They persistently bear grudges or read hidden meanings or threats into benign events or circumstances (e.g. when asked to fill out basic questionnaires prior to starting their clinical work). They likely have intact reality testing and do not typically have any other perceptual disturbances, and they otherwise function well.
Incorrect Answers:
B. Paranoid personality disorder’s prevalence in the general population is 2.3-4.4%
C. Long-term, lifelong medication is needed for paranoid personality disorder
D. Patients with paranoid personality disorder have higher, not lower, the incidence of family members with schizophrenia and delusional disorder.
Patients with histrionic personality disorder may be treated with therapy to address provocative and attention-seeking behavior. What is that therapy?
A. Cognitive-behavioral therapy
B. Problem-solving approach therapy
C. Interpersonal therapy
D. Group therapy
Correct Answer: D.
Group therapy can be useful for addressing these behaviors, as the patient may be unaware of his or her behaviors and can benefit from having others point them out.
Incorrect Answers:
A, B, and C. Patients with histrionic personality disorder are often the most difficult to establish a therapeutic relationship with to avoid crossing boundaries. A group setting can be helpful to highlight a patient’s behaviors in a setting with other patients present.
A 35-year-old woman has been working for the past 8 years at a financial company. She believes she is better than the other workers and follows a strict routine of discipline at work. She gets to work at 6:00am and is frustrated if she is more than 5 minutes late. She follows the company’s rules and pays extreme attention to details when drafting contracts. The patient spends multiple days reviewing the same report or drafts, often submitting her work late because of excessive reviews. Although her superiors admire her work dedication, she is often “difficult to work with,” especially because she adapts poorly to new situations. The patient has also been storing her clothes since she was 20 years old, even though she has not worn most of them for years, and feels frustrated when she is told to get rid of her old and unused clothes. What is the most likely diagnosis?
A. Obsessive-compulsive disorder
B. Obsessive-compulsive personality disorder
C. Histrionic personality disorder
D. Narcissistic personality disorder
Correct Answer: B
This patient displays typical features of obsessive-compulsive personality disorder (OCPD). Patients with OCPD tend to be restrained, conscientious, respectful, and rigid in their daily routine and activities. They are easily upset if their routine is affected, maintain a rule-bound lifestyle, and see the world in terms of regulations and hierarchies. They see themselves as devoted, reliable, efficient, and productive. However, due do their rigidness, their functioning may be affected. Patients are also sometimes uneasy about discarding old items, even though they may no longer require them.
Incorrect Answers:
A. Avoid confusing obsessive-compulsive personality disorder with obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). The latter is an anxiety disorder characterized by intrusive thoughts that produce uneasiness, fear or worry (obsessions), and repetitive behaviors aimed at reducing the associated anxiety (compulsions). The prototypical example is fear of “germs” and constantly hand-washing or repeatedly checking the gas stove before leaving the house. Patients with OCD often know that their behavior is irrational but cannot stop it.
C. Histrionic personality disorder refers to individuals who are dramatic, seductive, shallow, stimulus-seeking, and vain. They often tend to overreact to minor events but quickly forget about them. They constantly seek attention. This personality’s tendency to over-dramatize may impair relationships and lead to depression, but sufferers are often high-functioning.
D. Individuals with narcissistic personality disorder are egoistic, arrogant, and grandiose. They are often preoccupied with fantasies of success, beauty, or achievement. They see themselves as admirable, superior, and entitled to special treatment.
Anorexia nervosa patients who restrict, rather than binge-purge, often have a certain personality disorder. What is that personality disorder?
A. Borderline
B. Narcissistic
C. Obsessive-compulsive
D. Dependent
Correct Answer: C
A psychological profile for a patient with anorexia nervosa often demonstrates premorbid anxiety disorders and more severe affective disorders, such as major depression and dysthymic disorder. Patients may also have symptoms of obsessive-compulsive personality disorder with rigid and ritualistic eating behaviors. Obsessive-compulsive personality defines certain character traits (being a perfectionist, morally rigid, or preoccupied with rules and order). This personality disorder has been strongly associated with a higher risk for anorexia. These traits should not be confused with the anxiety disorder called obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), although they may increase the risk for this disorder. Impulsivity in individuals with anorexia nervosa correlates with a lower lifetime BMI, reflecting poorer long-term outcomes, and can be measured with the Yale-Brown-Cornell Eating Disorder Scale (YBC-EDS).
Incorrect Answers:
A, B, and D. Thse personality disorders don’t overlap with anorexia nervosa patients who restrict rather than binge-purge
Which treatment is typically well-tolerated and most effective for patients with paranoid personality disorder?
A. Individual psychotherapy
B. Group therapy
C. Cognitive-behavioral therapy
D. Benzodiazepines
Correct Answer: A
Consistent suspicion and a lack of trust are the cardinal characteristics of this cluster A disorder. Given these patients’ suspicion towards people, individual psychotherapy is typically tolerated best because it involves a single, consistent therapist with whom the patient can develop trust. However, the therapist must be aware of the patient’s suspicion and should tailor their treatment style accordingly.
Incorrect Answers:
B. Group therapy is typically not well-tolerated due to the higher number of people.
C. CBT is typically difficult for the patient, as the depth of the invasive emotional exploration can trigger paranoia in these individuals.
D. Benzodiazepines can help with some symptomatic management (e.g., decreasing anxiety), but ultimately it does not treat the underlying pathology. Medications are adjunctive therapy for personality disorders, not the primary treatment.
Vital Concept:
Psychotherapy is the treatment of choice for all personality disorders. Individual psychotherapy tends to be the treatment of choice for individuals with paranoid personality disorder.
Which personality disorder’s criteria include magical thinking?
A. Schizoaffective
B. Paranoid
C. Schizotypal
D. Schizoid
Correct Answer: C
Schizotypal personality disorder consists of a pattern of interpersonal deficits, cognitive/perceptual distortions, and eccentric behavior with 5 or more of the following:
· fantastical thinking or strange ideas that are not mainstream and affect the patient’s actions and decision-making
· abnormal patterns of talking or mental processing (e.g., analogies/metaphors, non-specific, indirect)
· displays of emotion that are limited or unsuitable
· has very few (or no) people that they are emotionally close to outside of family
· a false belief that random events in the world are directly related to them
· atypical sensations, including physical perceptions that are false or not objectively observable by others
· wariness, doubt, and lack of trust regarding people’s underlying motivation
· abnormal or bizarre appearance or actions
· an extreme, consistent, and unabating nervousness or concern regarding social interactions and events that is directly related to wariness and distrust regarding other’s underlying motivation in place of poor self-regard
Incorrect Answers:
A. Schizoaffective is not a personality disorder. Schizoaffective disorder is under the schizophrenia spectrum and other psychotic disorders in the DSM-5-TR.
B. Cluster A personality disorders include schizotypal, schizoid, and paranoid personality disorders. Common features in this group of disorders include social isolation and restricted affectivity. Schizotypal is the only personality disorder in cluster A that has magical thinking as a criterion.
D. Cluster A personality disorders include schizotypal, schizoid, and paranoid personality disorders. Common features in this group of disorders include social isolation and restricted affectivity. Schizotypal is the only personality disorder in cluster A that has magical thinking as a criterion.
Vital Concept:
Cluster A personality disorders (schizotypal, schizoid, and paranoid) have common features of social isolation and restricted affectivity. Schizotypal is the only one that has magical thinking as a criterion
Which of the following personality disorder is most common in clinical settings?
A. Narcissistic personality disorder
B. Antisocial personality disorder
C. Borderline personality disorder
D. Histrionic personality disorder
Correct Answer: C
Borderline personality disorder has a prevalence of 12-15% in clinical settings and occurs in 2-3% of the general population.
Incorrect Answers:
A. Narcissistic personality disorder has a prevalence of 2-16% in clinical populations and <1% in the general population.
B. Antisocial personality disorder has a prevalence of 3% in males and 1% in females in the general population.
D. Histrionic personality disorder has a prevalence of 2-3% in the general population.
Vital Concept:
BPD has a prevalence of 12-15% in clinical settings.
Some health conditions can cause personality changes. Which of the following factors is thought to be the most common cause of personality changes due to another medical condition?
A. Renal carcinoma
B. AIDS
C. Diabetes
D. Traumatic brain injury
Correct Answer: D
Structural changes in the brain are believed to underlie the mechanism leading to personality changes. Among the causes of brain structure change, head trauma is the most likely cause.
Incorrect Answers:
A. C. These are not common causes of significant permanent personality changes.
B. These are among the top 10 causes of personality change due to another medical condition, but they are not the most common causes.
Which of the following terms describes a stable and realistic sense of self?
A. Social system
B. Self-in-relation system
C. Self-system
D. Relation system
Correct Answer: C
Self-system describes a stable and realistic sense of self. The social system is a means of interpreting social situations and understanding the relational motives and actions of others. A self-in-relation system describes the capacity to observe the self as it relates to others.
Incorrect Answers:
A. This is a means of interpreting social situations and understanding the relational motives and actions of others
B. This describes the capacity to observe the self as it relates to others
D. Not a term
Vital Concept:
Self-system describes a stable and realistic sense of self.
Assertiveness training can benefit people with some personality disorders. Of the following, which personality disorder can benefit from assertiveness training?
A. Dependent personality disorder
B. Narcissistic personality disorder
C. Schizoid personality disorder
D. Histrionic disorder
Correct Answer: A
Dependent personality disorder and avoidant personality disorder can benefit from assertiveness training, as self-confidence is absent in both disorders.
Incorrect Answers:
B. Narcissistic personality disorder does not have a clear preferred modality, but group therapy has been postulated as useful.
C. Schizoid personality disorder does not have a clear preferred modality, but individual therapy with clear boundaries is the current recommendation.
D. Histrionic personality disorder seems to respond to psychoanalytic psychotherapy.
Mahler theorizes that the disruption of a certain stage of infant development leads children to develop narcissistic personality disorder. What stage is this?
A. Symbiotic phase
B. Autistic phase
C. Rapprochement
D. Practicing
Correct Answer: A
Mahler’s theory is based on psychoanalytic observation of children ages 6 months to 3 years. Mahler’s work has been expanded by other theorists to understand the basis of personality disorder. The symbiotic phase occurs until about 5 months of age; the infant recognizes his or her mother but lacks a sense of individuality.
Incorrect Answers:
B. The autistic phase occurs during the first weeks of life and is characterized by a total detachment and self-absorption, as the infant spends most of his or her time sleeping.
C. D. Separation-individuation has 3 phases: hatching (increased interest in the outside world), practicing (9-16 months, developing the physical ability to separate from mother), and rapprochement (15-24 months, exploring the outside world but requiring mother to be present for emotional support in completing the task). Disturbance of the rapprochement subphase is associated with persistent longing for and dread of fusion with the object that is thought to be secondary to aggression or withdrawal in the mother. Disruption of the rapprochement subphase is thought to contribute to the development of borderline personality disorder. Object constancy describes the child’s understanding that the mother is a separate individual and that the child is also separate. Object constancy leads to the formation of internalization that will allow the child to have an internal representation of the mother, allowing healthy separation, exploration, and self-esteem development.
Vital concept:
Narcissistic personality disorders are likely due to inadequate soothing during the symbiotic phase and inadequate refueling during separation-individuation.
Which of the following is the current prevalence of schizotypal personality disorder?
A. <1%
B. 3%
C. 5%
D. 10%
Correct Answer: B.
3%
About 3% of the population has schizotypal personality disorder. The criteria for schizotypal personality disorder include social and interpersonal impairment associated with discomfort with close relationships and eccentric behavior, including at least 5 of the following: ideas of reference, odd/magical beliefs, strange perceptual experiences/bodily illusions, odd speech or thought process, suspicion or paranoia, constricted affect, odd behavior or appearance, lack of close friends other than first-degree family, and social anxiety that does not improve with familiarity. The diagnostic criteria include:
A consistent lack of close connections with people due to a lack of desire and/or decreased capability to foster these relationships, as well as mental misrepresentations and oddities of conduct. This personality disorder typically presents by the patient’s ‘20s and is evidenced by at least five of the following:
· fantastical thinking or strange ideas that are not mainstream and affect the patient’s actions and decision-making
· abnormal patterns of talking or mental processing (e.g., analogies/metaphors, non-specific, indirect)
· displays of emotion that are limited or unsuitable
· has very few (or no) people that they are emotionally close to outside of family
· a false belief that random events in the world are directly related to them
· atypical sensations, including physical perceptions that are false or not objectively observable by others
· wariness, doubt, and lack of trust regarding people’s underlying motivation
· abnormal or bizarre appearance or actions
· an extreme, consistent, and unabating nervousness or concern regarding social interactions and events that is directly related to wariness and distrust regarding other’s underlying motivation in place of poor self-regard
The symptoms must be present outside of and notwithstanding a diagnosis of bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, or some other psychotic disorder, autism spectrum disorder, or other medical condition.
Incorrect Answers:
A. The prevalence is approximately 3%, not <1%.
C. The prevalence is approximately 3%, not 5%.
D. The prevalence is approximately 3%, not 10%.
Vital Concept:
The prevalence of schizotypal personality disorder is approximately 3%.
Patients with a history of childhood separation anxiety or chronic illness may be predisposed to a certain personality disorder. What is that disorder?
A. Obsessive-compulsive
B. Schizoid
C. Avoidant
D. Dependent
Correct Answer: D.
Dependent
Patients with a history of childhood separation anxiety or chronic illness may be predisposed to dependent personality disorder. Patients with dependent personality disorder commonly experienced over-involvement and intrusive behavior by their primary caretaker as a child. They were often socially humiliated during childhood, which leads them to doubt in their own ability to function independently of others.
Incorrect Answers:
A. Patients with obsessive-compulsive personality disorder (OCPD) often had parents who were emotionally withholding and overprotective or over-controlling. Children who develop OCPD were often punished by their parents and were rarely rewarded. They develop their OCPD symptoms as a strategy to avoid punishment.
B. Patients with schizoid personality disorder typically come from families that are emotionally reserved, highly formal, aloof, and impersonal. Their parents likely provided inadequate affection, prompting their disinterest in forming close relationships later in life.
C. Patients with avoidant personality disorder displayed excessive shyness and fear when confronted with new people and situations as children. Many of these patients have a history of painful early experiences and chronic parental criticism.
Vital Concept:
Someone with a history of separation anxiety or significant illness may develop a dependent personality disorder, a consistent and extreme desire to be cared for, resulting in actions that are passive, docile, and insecure and concerns of estrangement.
Narcissistic personality disorder has a number of criteria. Which of the following is one of them?
A. Exploitation of others to achieve goals
B. High empathy
C. Low self-esteem
D. Indifference towards others
Correct Answer: A.
Exploitation of others to achieve goals
Narcissistic personality criteria include a consistent desire for veneration from others, grandness, and a lack of understanding and compassion for the feelings of others. This personality disorder typically presents by the patient’s ‘20s and is evidenced by at least five of the following:
- is myopically focused on daydreams regarding intelligence, magnificence, achievement, true love, and authority/control
- craves constant veneration from others
- will use others to accomplish their goals
- is somewhat preoccupied with jealousy and envy- of others or suspicion of others directed at them
- an inflated self-regard, with a false belief that they are more crucial than they are, giving the impression that they are more successful and expert than their past accomplishments would suggest
- an impression that they are superior and one-of-kind, and therefore can only be truly appreciated or wants to work with other top-notch or exclusive groups or people
- believes that others owe them special treatment or expects immediate submission to their wishes
-mlack of understanding and compassion for others’ feelings or emotions
- actions and manners are proud, conceited, and egotistical
Incorrect Answers:
B. Lack of empathy is a criteria for narcissistic personality disorder
C. Belief that others are envious of oneself is a criteria for narcissistic personality disorder
D. People with narcisstic personality are very interested in how they stand relative to others
Vital Concept:
Patients with narcissistic personality disorder often display a consistent desire for veneration from others, grandness, and a lack of understanding and compassion for the feelings of others.
Obsessive-compulsive personality disorder is relatively difficult to treat. Which treatment can enable patients to understand that the world is not divided into clearly defined, “black and white” lines of rigid beliefs?
A. Psychodynamic therapy
B. Cognitive-behavioral therapy
C. Fluoxetine
D. Imipramine
Therapy is used for Cluster C personality disorders. Of the following types of psychotherapy, which is the most studied and used for Cluster C personality disorders?
A. Group psychotherapy
B. Family therapy
C. Couples therapy
D. Individual psychotherapy
Correct Answer: D.
Individual psychotherapy
Individual psychotherapy is the most studied and used therapy for treating Cluster C personality disorders. Individual psychotherapy is effective for people with various personality disorders, including dependent, avoidant, passive aggressive and obsessive-compulsive personality disorders. It can help people understand how their personality disorder is connected to their problems and learn new ways of interacting and coping.
Incorrect Answers:
A, B, and C. These aren’t used for Cluster C personality disorders
Paranoid personality disorder involves a number of key characteristics. Which of the following accurately describes paranoid personality disorder?
A. Displays cognitive, perceptual, and behavioral eccentricities and has pervasive discomfort with close relationships
B. Displays pervasive distrust and suspiciousness of others
C. Displays pervasive disregard for rights of others and engages in repetitive unlawful acts
D. Displays impaired capacity to form stable interpersonal relationships, affective instability, impulsivity, and identity disturbance
Correct Answer: B.
Displays pervasive distrust and suspiciousness of others
Paranoid personality disorder involves pervasive distrust and suspiciousness of others. Patients with paranoid personality disorder often suspect that others are exploiting or deceiving them, and are preoccupied with doubts about the loyalty of friends, associates, and romantic partners. They persistently bear grudges or read hidden meanings or threats into benign events or circumstances (e.g. when asked to fill out basic questionnaires prior to starting their clinical work). They likely have intact reality testing and do not typically have any other perceptual disturbances, and they otherwise function well.
Incorrect Answers:
A. This describes schizotypal personality disorder.
C. This describes antisocial personality disorder.
D. This describes borderline personality disorder.
Vital Concept:
A defining characteristic of paranoid PD is distrust and suspicion.
The DSM defines a tendency towards frequent and extreme negative emotion using what personality trait domain?
A. Detachment
B. Negative affectivity
C. Psychoticism
D. Disinhibition
Correct Answer: B.
Negative affectivity
Negative affectivity (or neuroticism) is excessive worry and fear of the worst in every life experience. It is defined as extreme negative emotions (depression, guilt/shame) that are experienced often. This is often associated with external repercussions, such as dependency or self-harm. Neuroticism is a predictor for the development of psychiatric illness and is associated with low self-esteem, anxiety, and depression. The facets of this domain include hostility, anxiousness, perseveration, depression, suspiciousness, emotional lability, separation insecurity, and submissiveness.
Incorrect Answers:
A. Detachment is defined as limited interaction, both emotional and/or social, with others. This also involves limited emotional expression.
C. Psychoticism is defined by the DSM as a patient who displays strange, bizarre, or different thoughts, behaviors, beliefs, and opinions.
D. Disinhibition is defined by the DSM as a tendency towards behaving and acting impulsively, without much self-control or forethought. Patients who exhibit this trait domain often fail to learn from prior experiences or fail to conceive of potential future ramifications.
Vital Concept:
The personality trait domains defined in the DSM include negative affectivity (versus emotional stability), psychoticism (versus lucidity), disinhibition (versus conscientiousness), antagonism (versus agreeableness), and detachment (versus extraversion).
Which type of therapy has been the most efficacious in the treatment of borderline personality disorder?
A. Aversion therapy
B. Group therapy
C. Biofeedback therapy
D. Dialectical behavior therapy
Correct Answer: D.
Dialectical behavior therapy
Dialectical behavior therapy (DBT) seeks to uncouple a patient’s harmful coping mechanisms from a stressor. DBT helps the patient to tolerate emotional stress and find nonharmful coping mechanisms to reduce emotional actions in response to a stressful situation. Other therapeutic techniques unique to borderline personality disorder include mentalization-based treatment and transference-focused psychotherapy.
Incorrect Answers:
A, B, and C. These aren’t useful for BPD
Affective aggression can be treated effectively with which medication?
A. Sertraline
B. Venlafaxine
C. Imipramine
D. Lithium
Correct Answer: D.
Lithium
Multiple studies have shown lithium carbonate to be effective in the treatment of affective aggression.
Incorrect Answers:
A. Used to treat depression, panic, anxiety, or obsessive-compulsive symptoms, is an SSRI
B. Used to treat major depressive disorder, anxiety and panic disorder, is an SNRI
C. Used to treat depression, is a TCA
Which of the following is a standard therapy used for the treatment of borderline personality disorder (BPD)?
A. Aversion therapy
B. Psychoanalytic therapy
C. Eye movement desensitization and reprocessing (EMDR) therapy
D. Dialectical behavioral therapy
Correct Answer: D.
Dialectical behavioral therapy
Dialectical behavioral therapy (DBT) is the standard for therapeutic evidence in borderline personality disorder. DBT was developed by Marsha Linehan and focuses on improving interpersonal skills and decreasing self-destructive behavior using techniques involving advice, metaphor, storytelling, confrontation, and mindfulness. DBT assumes that all behavior is learned and that patients with borderline personality disorder behave in a way that reinforces their own maladaptive behavior.
Incorrect Answers:
A. Aversion therapy is a generally effective treatment for addictions.
B. Psychoanalytic and supportive therapies have not been widely studied in the treatment of personality disorders.
C. EMDR is a generally effective treatment for PTSD.
Vital Concept:
DBT is a common therapy utilized for BPD.
Personality disorders have certain manifestations, symptoms, and patient behaviors. Which of the following is true about personality disorders?
A. Personality disorders not due to another medical condition typically first manifest in later life.
B. Patients often accept responsibility for their symptoms and seek to change their maladaptive patterns.
C. Patients are eager to seek treatment.
D. Symptoms are usually consistent with patient’s internal sense of self, which is called ego-syntonic.
Correct Answer: D.
Symptoms are usually consistent with patient’s internal sense of self, which is called ego-syntonic.
The symptoms of a personality disorder are usually consistent with the patient’s internal sense of self, which is referred to as ego-syntonic.
Incorrect Answers:
A. Personality disorders typically first present in adolescence or early adulthood.
B. C. Patients usually are unable to identify their maladaptive behaviors and have difficulty identifying their role in the problems their disorder causes. They usually do not feel like they need treatment.
Histrionic personality disorder has a number of criteria. Which is one of those criteria?
A. Not comfortable when they are in the background and others are in the spotlight
B. Belief that relationships are less serious than they are
C. Flat affect
D. Lack of emotion
Correct Answer: A.
Not comfortable when they are in the background and others are in the spotlight
The diagnostic criteria for histrionic personality disorder include a consistent finding of emotional lability and pursuing notice and attention from others. This personality disorder typically presents by the patient’s ‘20s and is evidenced by at least five of the following:
- when socializing, the patient is often overly sensual or erotic
- dresses and grooms themselves to attract attention
- displays of emotion are vivid, melodramatic, and dynamic
- perceives interpersonal connections to be closer and more intense than they are in reality
- is not comfortable when they are in the background, and others are in the spotlight
- emotional communication is superficial and changes quickly
- communication is exceptionally imprecise and vague
- is impressionable or pliable
Incorrect Answers:
B. People with histrionic personality disorder perceive interpersonal connections to be closer and more intense than they are in reality, not less serious.
C. Histrionic personality disorder is characterized by displays of emotion that are vivid, melodramatic, and dynamic.
D. Histrionic personality disorder is characterized by displays of emotion that are vivid, melodramatic, and dynamic.
Vital Concept:
Patients with histrionic personality disorder are not comfortable when they are in the background, and others are in the spotlight.
A 29-year-old man with dependent personality disorder presents for a refill of his antidepressant. To encourage him to do something that will be helpful for his personality disorder, what should be suggested?
A. Exercising more frequently
B. Seeking out more personal contacts
C. Attending a support group at a community-based organization
D. Switching antidepressants to bupropion
Correct Answer: C.
Attending a support group at a community-based organization
Patients with personality disorders can benefit greatly from attending support groups. It is essential to refer them to a community-based organization for this treatment.
Incorrect Answers:
A, B, and D. These are unlikely to help with dependent personality disorder.