When communicating with a patient diagnosed with a serious mental disorder, it is important for the nurse to recognize which fact about these patients?

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Patients with serious mental disorders may have a different type of communication deficit resulting from a malfunctioning of the neurotransmitters that normally transmit and make sense out of messages in the brain. Social isolation and impaired coping may accompany the patient's inability to receive or express language signals. Other communication problems occur with different mental disorders. As an example, some patients with mental disorders can perhaps have intact sensory channels, but they cannot process and respond appropriately to what they hear, see, smell, or touch. The nurse may notice a lack of vocal inflection and an unchanging facial expression. A "flat affect" makes it difficult to truly understand the patient. Some patients with mental disorders present with a poverty of speech and limited content. Speech appears blocked; reflecting disturbed patterns of perception, thought, emotions, and motivation.

When Communicating with a Patient Diagnosed with a Serious Mental