A 79-year-old white man tells a visiting nurse, "I've been feeling down lately. My family and friends are all dead. My money is running out, and my health is failing." The nurse should analyze this comment as:
a. normal pessimism of older adults.
b. evidence of suicide risk.
c. a cry for sympathy.
d. normal grieving.
ANS: B
The patient describes the loss of significant others, economic insecurity, and declining health. He describes mood alteration and expresses the thought that he has little to live for. Combined with his age, sex, and single status, each is a risk factor for suicide. Older adult white men have the highest risk for completed suicide.
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