Psychiatric & Mental Health Nursing
Understanding the diagnosis, behaviors, and nursing care for clients with mental health conditions — one of the most commonly tested areas on the LPN/LVN exit exam and NCLEX-PN.
Choose a Topic
Each guide covers the most commonly tested psychiatric content with full explanations, comparison tables, key signs and symptoms, nursing interventions, and a downloadable cheatsheet.
Anxiety & Trauma Disorders
Levels of anxiety, GAD, panic disorder, phobias, OCD, PTSD, and acute stress disorder. Therapeutic communication and de-escalation techniques.
Mood Disorders
Major depressive disorder, bipolar I vs II, mania, suicide assessment and prevention, postpartum depression, and the function of grief in Kubler-Ross stages.
Personality Disorders
Cluster A, B, and C personality disorders. Borderline, antisocial, narcissistic, histrionic, schizotypal, paranoid, and avoidant. Nursing approaches and setting boundaries.
Schizophrenia & Psychotic Disorders
Positive vs negative symptoms, hallucinations, delusions, types of schizophrenia, milieu therapy, nursing communication with psychotic clients, and antipsychotic adverse effects.
Substance Use Disorders
Alcohol withdrawal (CIWA), opioid intoxication and withdrawal, stimulants, sedatives, antidotes (naloxone, flumazenil), CAGE assessment, and recovery support.
Cognitive Disorders
Delirium vs dementia, Alzheimer's disease and its stages, sundowning, the 3 D's, therapeutic communication, and key medications.
Eating Disorders
Anorexia, bulimia, and binge-eating disorder, medical complications, refeeding syndrome, mealtime nursing care, and medications.
Therapeutic Communication
Therapeutic techniques and the blocks that shut a client down, active listening (SOLER), the nurse-client relationship phases, professional boundaries, and responding to anxious, angry, hallucinating, and suicidal clients.
Test Yourself
Put it into practice with our free Psychiatric quiz — 149 NCLEX-PN style questions with detailed rationales. Pick how many you want and choose Tutor or Exam mode.
Struggling With Nursing Exam Questions? Get Free Tips.
Exit exam, ATI, HESI, or NCLEX-PN — the questions all work the same way. Get free study tips that show you how to break down each one, find the priority, and choose the safest answer with more confidence.