RUHS, Jaipur, PB B.Sc Nursing Entrance-2022
Mental Health Nursing
Easy
"Flights of ideas" is characteristic of -
Appeared in: RUHS, Jaipur, PB B.Sc Nursing Entrance-2022
Explanation
- Flight of ideas is a formal thought disorder characterized by a rapid, continuous flow of speech with abrupt, often associative, shifts from one topic to another.
- This pattern of thinking and speech is a hallmark symptom of a manic episode, which is a defining feature of Bipolar I Disorder.
- The connections between topics, while loose, are often discernible (e.g., based on puns, rhymes, or environmental cues), distinguishing it from the more disorganized thought of schizophrenia.
Why Other Options Were Wrong
- Option B: Delirium involves acute confusion, fluctuating consciousness, and disorganized thinking, but not the rapid, expansive, and connected (albeit loosely) speech of flight of ideas.
- Option C: Dementia is a chronic cognitive decline characterized by memory loss and often poverty of speech (alogia) or difficulty finding words (anomia), which is the opposite of the pressured, voluminous speech in flight of ideas.
- Option D: Anxiety can cause 'racing thoughts,' but these are typically repetitive, worry-focused, and do not involve the rapid topic-shifting or expansive, elevated mood associated with flight of ideas.
Related Visual
Clinical Relevance
- Nursing practice connection: This is primarily an exam-oriented knowledge point with limited direct bedside application, so retain Formal Thought Disorders in Psychiatric Conditions as background academic context rather than a clinical decision trigger.
- Recognizing flight of ideas is a key nursing assessment skill for identifying a manic episode, which requires immediate intervention to ensure patient safety due to poor judgment and impulsivity.
- A nurse managing a patient with flight of ideas must use short, simple, and direct sentences to communicate, as the patient's distractibility makes it difficult to process complex information.
- What if? If the patient's speech was not just rapid but also completely incoherent and illogical with no discernible connections, the diagnosis would more likely be schizophrenia (thought disorder with loosening of associations) rather than mania.
How to Approach the Question
- First, identify the key term in the question stem: 'Flights of ideas'.
- Recall the definition of this term: a rapid flow of speech with abrupt changes in topic.
- Systematically evaluate each option based on your knowledge of psychopathology.
- Mania is classically associated with accelerated thought processes and pressured speech, making it the strongest match.
- Rule out other options: Delirium (disorganized), Dementia (poverty of speech), and Anxiety (worry-focused thoughts) do not fit the definition of flight of ideas.
Concept Tested & Keywords
- Concept Tested: Formal Thought Disorders in Psychiatric Conditions
- Stem keywords: Flights of ideas, characteristic
- Lead-in keywords: is characteristic of
Question ID
QenCIHxdCG3Hl9ir8lEajD
Reference Book
E6 Robert Boland, Marcia L. Verduin - Kaplan and Sadock's Comprehensive Text of Psychiatry-Wolters Kluwer Health (2024) (pp 1-16525 of 16525) p. 5392-5394
E6 Psychology Morgan King 9e Part 2 p. 251-253
E6 Guide to Mental Health & PSYCHIATRIC NURSING R Sreevani— Part 1 (pp 26-289 of 579) p. 204-206
Practise the full RUHS, Jaipur, PB B.Sc Nursing Entrance-2022
Attempt every question from this paper in a timed mock, then review the full solution for each one.
More Organic Brain Disorders Questions
- A patient admitted in a ward with the diagnosis of delirium. In first 24 to 48 hours what nurse plan according to priority:
- What is the most common cause of delirium in older adults?
- The most important component of nursing care plan for a client with organic brain deterioration would be?
- Which of the following is expected in a patient who is diagnosed with an organic mental disorder?
- An example of acute organic mental disorder?
- What is "sun drowning"?
- Imaginary filling of memory gaps is known as?
- Impairment in consciousness and cognition for a short time is?
- A 75-year-old patient has dementia of the Alzheimer's type and confabulates. A nurse should understand that this patient?
- A 54-year-old male patient admitted with memory impairment. His Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE) score ranges from 10 - 18 points, which indicate…
More RUHS, Jaipur, PB B.Sc Nursing Entrance-2022 Questions
- Foetoscope is used to -
- Fundal height at the 24th week of pregnancy is ?
- Normal fetal heart rate at 38 weeks of gestational period is ?
- Fetal movement that is felt by the mother from 18th week of gestation is called ?
- Which type of pelvis has rounded brim?
- Which of the following is not an indication of caesarean section?
- At the 10cm dilatation of cervix during labor, fetal heart rate should be assessed at least-
- A mother in labor has been pushing effectively for 1 hour. The primary physiological need of mother in between contractions is ?
- Softening and blue purple discoloration of cervix in early pregnancy is called-
- Which of the following nursing intervention is most appropriate initially if uterus feels soft and boggy in the immediate post-partum period?