A patient tells the nurse, "I don't think I can deal with feeling so sad much longer." What is the nurse's best response?

Question

1. "We all have times of sadness."
2. "Are you saying you feel sad?"
3. "Tell me about your feelings of sadness."
4. "Is there a history of depression in your family?"

Answer 1

Answer: 3
Explanation: The nurse is using the therapeutic communication technique of encouraging the patient to explore feelings when asking the patient to talk about the feelings of sadness. Asking the patient if he is sad is therapeutic; however, the better response is to encourage the patient to explore his feelings about being sad to facilitate developing insight. Restating would prompt a closed-ended response by focusing on the content (sad), as opposed to focusing on the behavior or feelings (sadness). Asking about the patient's history provides the patient with an opportunity to shift the focus from the feelings to providing information about the patient's family and is not the best response. Suggesting that everyone has sad times discounts the patient's feelings.