LPN Nursing · Anxiety Disorders · Practice question
A patient experiences hallucinations in which re-enactment of a horrific life event is envisioned. The nurse understands that the scenario would indicate which type of disorder?
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✓
Post Traumatic Stress Disorder
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Generalized Anxiety Disorder
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Phobia
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Night terrors
Answer & explanation
Correct: Post Traumatic Stress Disorder
Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) is characterized by re-experiencing a traumatic event through intrusive symptoms such as flashbacks and hallucinations in which the person vividly re-enacts or relives the traumatic experience. When a patient experiences hallucinations that involve a re-enactment of a horrific life event, this is consistent with the intrusive re-experiencing cluster of PTSD symptoms. The DSM criteria for PTSD include flashbacks or dissociative reactions during which the individual feels or acts as if the traumatic event is recurring, which may appear hallucinatory in nature. Generalized Anxiety Disorder involves excessive, difficult-to-control worry about a variety of everyday topics rather than hallucinations tied to a specific traumatic event. A phobia is an excessive, irrational fear of a specific object or situation and does not involve re-experiencing hallucinations of a past trauma. Night terrors, while they can involve frightening imagery during sleep, are a parasomnia occurring in non-REM sleep and are not classified as a mental health disorder involving re-experiencing of a specific traumatic event during waking hours. The vivid re-enactment of a specific horrific life event described in the stem is the defining feature of PTSD, making it the correct answer.
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