Ch 18 Personality Disorders Book Key Points Flashcards
People with personality disorders have traits that are:
inflexible and maladaptive and cause either significant functional impairment or subjective distress.
Personality disorders are relatively common and diagnosed in:
early adulthood, though some behaviors are evident in childhood or adolescence.
Rapid or substantial changes in personality are:
unlikely.
This can be a primary source of frustration for family members, friends, and health care professionals.
Schizotypal personality disorder is characterized by:
social and interpersonal deficits, cognitive and perceptual distortions, and eccentric behavior.
People with antisocial personality disorder often appear:
glib and charming, but they are suspicious, insensitive, and uncaring and often exploit others for their own gain.
People with BPD have:
markedly unstable mood, affect, self-image, interpersonal relationships, and impulsivity; they often engage in self- harm behavior.
People with obsessive–compulsive personality disorder are preoccupied with:
orderliness, perfection, and interpersonal control at the expense of flexibility, openness, and efficiency.
Narcissistic personality disorder is characterized by:
grandiosity, need for admiration, lack of empathy for others, and a sense of entitlement.
Avoidant personality disorder is characterized by:
social discomfort and reticence in all situations, low self-esteem, and hypersensitivity to negative evaluation.
The therapeutic relationship is crucial in caring for clients with personality disorders. Nurses can help clients:
identify their feelings and dysfunctional behaviors and develop appropriate coping skills and positive behaviors. Therapeutic communication and role modeling help promote appropriate social interactions, which help improve interpersonal relationships.
Several therapeutic strategies are effective when working with clients with personality disorders:
Cognitive restructuring techniques such as thought stopping, positive self-talk, and decatastrophizing are useful; self-help skills aid the client in functioning better in the community.
Psychotropic medications are prescribed for clients with personality disorders based on the type and severity of symptoms the client experiences in:
aggression and impulsivity, mood dysregulation, anxiety, and psychotic symptoms.
Clients with BPD often have self-harm urges that they enact by:
cutting, burning, or punching themselves; this behavior sometimes causes permanent physical damage.
The nurse can encourage the client to enter into a no-self-harm contract in which the client promises to try to keep from harming him or herself and to report to the nurse when he or she is having self-harm urges.
Nurses must use self-awareness skills to:
minimize client manipulation and deal with feelings of frustration.
