When Mental Patients Are Required to Give Their Informed Consent

question 157

Multiple Choice

When mental patients are required to give their informed consent before they can be given drugs or other treatments, which kind of patients are most likely to refuse?

• A) those who have already taken such drugs in the past
• B) those who have only slight problems and who have a good chance of dealing with the problems without drugs
• C) those who are well acquainted with the statistics on the probability of success if they take the drugs
• D) those with the greatest hostility, emotional withdrawal, and disorganized thinking

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Definitions:

Perception

The process of organizing, interpreting, and understanding sensory information to represent and understand the environment around us.

Affect

Refers to the observable expression of emotions or feelings.

Mental Status Exam

A structured way of observing and describing a patient's current state of mind under the domains of appearance, attitude, behavior, mood and affect, speech, thought process, thought content, perception, cognition, insight, and judgement.

Labile

Describes emotions that are easily altered or mood states that are highly variable, often seen in certain psychological or medical conditions.