Question

A client on a psychiatric unit who has been hearing voices is receiving a neuroleptic medication for the first time. The client takes the cup of water and the pill and stares at them. What is the most therapeutic statement the nurse can make?

1. "You have to take your medicine."
2. "This is the medication that your doctor ordered."
3. "This will help you not to hear the voices. It will only work if you take it."
4. "There must be a reason that you don't want to take your medicine."

Answer 1

3. "This will help you not to hear the voices. It will only work if you take it."

Step-by-step explanation:

The client is receiving neuroleptic medication which will reduce his hallucinations. He is not consuming the medicine and just staring at it. The aversion might be caused due to his fear of the medicine or by the manipulation caused by the "voices" he hears. In such a case, forcing him to take the medicine will only make him more rigid and he will see it as a threat.

Instead, the nurse can actually pinpoint the benefit of taking the medicine. She can tell him that the medicine will make the voices go away and he needs to take it to see the effect. In this way the client's mind will start approaching the idea of taking medicine and will not see it or the hospital staff as threat.