Which should the nurse recognize as an example of the defense mechanism of repression?
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A
A student aware of the need to study for tomorrows test goes to a movie instead.
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B
A woman whose son was killed in Iraq does not believe the military report.
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C
A man who is unhappily married goes to school to become a marriage counselor.
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D
A woman was raped when she was 12 and no longer remembers the incident.
The statement that matches what is being asked is A woman was raped when she was 12 and no longer remembers the incident..
B. A woman whose son was killed in Iraq does not believe the military report.
This reflects a related idea, but it fits best when the idea in “A woman whose son was killed in Iraq does not believe the military report.” addresses a different mechanism or priority than the one emphasized by the stem The wording does not track the stem’s main cue, so selecting it would shift the nurse away from the most precise interpretation or priority.
C. A man who is unhappily married goes to school to become a marriage counselor.
This might be chosen when the idea in “A man who is unhappily married goes to school to become a marriage counselor.” addresses a different mechanism or priority than the one emphasized by the stem The wording does not track the stem’s main cue, so selecting it would shift the nurse away from the most precise interpretation or priority.
D. A woman was raped when she was 12 and no longer remembers the incident.
This is supported by the detail that Repression is the involuntary blocking of unpleasant feelings and experiences from ones awareness. Need: Psychosocial Integrity Ego defenses can reduce anxiety in the short term, but they become clinically relevant when they distort reality enough to interfere with insight, relationships, or treatment adherence. From a nursing standpoint, this selection guides assessment and interventions toward what is most clinically meaningful in the moment—risk reduction, safety, accurate appraisal, and support for adaptive coping.
Conclusion
What separates the best choice from the rest is specificity: the correct option addresses the exact mechanism, stage, or principle described. The other answers relate to nearby ideas, yet they miss the question’s focal point or misapply the concept to the situation.