ANCC PMHNP Boards V1 Latest

ANCC PMHNP Boards V1 (Latest Update 2025 / 2026) Questions and Verified Answers | Grade A | 100% Correct

Question:

When working in individual psychotherapy with a client who has a personality disorder, what are the primary treatment goals?

• Change the client's personality structure and make him or her more

adaptable in everyday life.

• Reparent the client, following Bowlby's theoretical framework.
• Allow the client to reprocess his or her childhood trauma because all clients

with personality disorders have a history of severe abuse.

• Assist the client in changing dysfunctional interpersonal relationships and

use of immature defense mechanisms.

Correct Answer: D. Persons with personality disorders have a pervasive

maladaptive pattern of behavior and the goal of therapy is to slowly shift how they relate in the world and begin to use higher-order defenses.

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Question:

For a client who has paranoid personality disorder, what are the best treatment strategies?

• Confront negative and misinterpreted thoughts and feelings.
• Deflate grandiose thoughts.
• Engage the client in detailed and emotional responses and dialog.
• Do not challenge negative views or recollections of events.

Correct Answer: D. Persons with fixed false beliefs should not be challenged.

Question:

John, a client with paranoid personality disorder, states the following: "I noticed there is a red light in the upper corner of your door and it has been going on and off during our sessions. Are you recording me?" What is the PMHNP best response?

• "No, it would be illegal for me to record you, and it's just a red light."
• "John, thank you for asking the question. The light you see in the upper

corner of my door tells me when a client has arrived and is in the waiting room. The client turns on the light, as you do, when they arrive in the waiting room, alerting me their arrival, and I turn off the light when we get into the office using the switch by my desk."

• "Come on John, do you think I would record your sessions? You are not that

interesting. Kidding, no John, it is not a recorder or camera." 2 / 4

• "John, it takes courage to ask me the question. Tell me a time in your life

when you had a similar experience."

Correct Answer: B. When working with a paranoid client, help the person find

proof of meaning and explain any questions in a matter-of-fact manner.

Question:

As a PMHNP, you understand the genetic factors that contribute to psychiatric and personality disorders. Persons who develop antisocial personality disorder often are raised in families with high rates of which of the following?

• Psychotic disorders
• Alcohol use disorders
• Anxiety disorders
• Mood disorders

Correct Answer: B. Being raised in an alcoholic family increases the likelihood

of chaos, unpredictability, and lack of rules and order, leading to higher rates of developing antisocial personality disorder.

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Question:

Persons with obsessive-compulsive personality disorder often use isolation as a defense mechanism. Which of the following examples best describes isolation as a defense mechanism?

• Staying in the house for days or weeks to clean
• Declining invites by friends or family to attend social gatherings
• Describing information with very little affect variation
• Being an introvert in the work setting to prevent talking with coworkers

Correct Answer: C. Isolation is a defense mechanism often used by people

with obsessive-compulsive personality disorder and has to do with affect and emotion rather than getting out and being social.

Question:

In the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, 5th Edition (DSM-5), how should a personality disorder be coded?

• Coded with the major psychiatric disorder
• Coded on Axis II
• Coded on Axis III
• Coded on Axis IV

Correct Answer: A. DSM-5 no longer uses the axial system.

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