Alzheimer’s Delirium and Dementia Q 50
A client with depression has been hospitalized for treatment after taking a leave of absence from work. The client’s employer expects the client to return to work following inpatient treatment. The client tells the nurse, “I’m no good. I’m a failure”. According to cognitive theory, these statements reflect:
A. Learned behavior.
B. Punitive superego and decreased self-esteem.
C. Faulty thought processes that govern behavior.
D. Evidence of difficult relationships in the work environment.
Correct Answer: C. Faulty thought processes that govern behavior
The client is demonstrating faulty thought processes that are negative and that govern his behavior in his work situation – issues that are typically examined using a cognitive theory approach. Cognitive-behavioral theorists suggest that depression results from maladaptive, faulty, or irrational cognitions taking the form of distorted thoughts and judgments. Depressive cognitions can be learned socially (observationally) as is the case when children in a dysfunctional family watch their parents fail to successfully cope with stressful experiences or traumatic events. Or, depressive cognitions can result from a lack of experiences that would facilitate the development of adaptive coping skills.
Option A: Issues involving learned behavior are best explored through behavior theory, not cognitive theory. Behavioral theory seeks to explain human behavior by analyzing the antecedents and consequences present in the individual’s environment and the learned associations he or she has acquired through previous experience.
Option B: Issues involving ego development are the focus of psychoanalytic theory. Psychoanalysis is defined as a set of psychological theories and therapeutic methods which have their origin in the work and theories of Sigmund Freud. The primary assumption of psychoanalysis is the belief that all people possess unconscious thoughts, feelings, desires, and memories. The aim of psychoanalysis therapy is to release repressed emotions and experiences, i.e., make the unconscious conscious. It is only having a cathartic (i.e., healing) experience can the person be helped and “cured.”
Option D: This is incorrect because there is no evidence in this situation that the client has conflictual relationships in the work environment. A good psychological work environment consists, among other things, in having colleagues you work well with and that help you thrive. It may also be a manager who recognizes and is attentive to both individual and collective contributions to solving both large and small work tasks.