Formula sheets, the key method steps for every topic and 6 practice problems, with full solutions at the back.
Which monitoring is especially important for patients on second-generation antipsychotics such as olanzapine?
A patient's mood changes several times a day, usually after conflicts with others. She has chronic feelings of emptiness and a strong fear of being abandoned. Which diagnosis is most likely?
Which criterion of abnormality judges behaviour as abnormal when it is rare in the population?
A patient with schizophrenia stays motionless in an awkward posture for hours and resists attempts to move him. Which symptom cluster does this describe?
Which group of effects would the nurse expect after a dose of an anticholinergic drug such as atropine?
An 80-year-old man with an enlarged prostate starts oxybutynin for an overactive bladder. He becomes confused and cannot pass urine. What is the most likely explanation?
Answer: A · Weight, waist circumference, blood glucose and lipids
Many second-generation antipsychotics cause weight gain, insulin resistance and dyslipidaemia. Metabolic monitoring is done at baseline and regularly during treatment.
Answer: D · Borderline personality disorder
In borderline personality disorder, mood shifts are short-lived, often hours, and are usually triggered by interpersonal events. Bipolar episodes last days to weeks and are not mainly reactive to relationships.
Answer: B · Statistical infrequency
Statistical infrequency defines abnormality as behaviour far from the average. Its weakness is that some rare traits, such as very high IQ, are desirable.
Answer: A · Catatonia
Catatonic features include stupor, posturing, waxy flexibility, mutism and negativism. In DSM-5 catatonia can occur with schizophrenia, mood disorders or medical conditions.
Answer: B · Dry mouth, faster heart rate and dilated pupils
Anticholinergic drugs block muscarinic receptors, so parasympathetic effects are reduced. This gives dry mouth, tachycardia, dilated pupils, constipation and urinary retention.
Answer: B · Anticholinergic adverse effects
Antimuscarinic drugs reduce bladder contraction, which can cause urinary retention in men with prostate enlargement. In older people they can also cause confusion, so their total anticholinergic burden should be kept low.
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