NU 665 Week 11 Assignment 2: Personal Assumptions
NU 665 Week 11 Assignment 2: Personal Assumptions
Value: 100 points
Due: Day 7
Grading Category: Assignments
Instructions
Working with individuals with personality disorders or paraphilic disorders can be a challenge for the PMHNP. The thoughts and opinions you have about clients will influence your treatment of them, so it is important to confront these thoughts and learn how to manage them ahead of seeing patients independently.
To discover your assumptions about those with these specific mental health disorders, review the Assignment 11.1 Personal Assumptions document and choose three of the prompts to respond to. This paper should be one to two pages in length, and references are not required.
Please refer to the Grading Rubric for details on how this activity will be graded.
Introduction
Working with individuals diagnosed with personality or paraphilic disorders presents a unique set of emotional, ethical, and professional challenges for the Psychiatric-Mental Health Nurse Practitioner (PMHNP). These disorders often evoke strong personal reactions because they are associated with complex behaviors that can test a clinician’s boundaries, empathy, and therapeutic objectivity. Personality disorders, characterized by enduring patterns of maladaptive behavior and interpersonal difficulty, and paraphilic disorders, involving atypical sexual interests that may cause distress or harm, frequently elicit societal stigma and moral judgment. For this reason, it is essential that PMHNPs engage in ongoing self-reflection to identify and manage their own biases, assumptions, and emotional responses before providing independent clinical care.
This assignment encourages such reflection by inviting an honest examination of personal attitudes toward individuals living with these challenging conditions. By responding to three selected prompts from the Personal Assumptions guide, I aim to explore how my perceptions have been shaped by cultural, professional, and personal influences, and how these views might affect the therapeutic alliance. Through this process, I will also identify strategies to maintain compassion, uphold ethical practice, and provide trauma-informed, nonjudgmental care to all patients.
Understanding and confronting one’s assumptions is a crucial step in developing cultural humility, emotional resilience, and professional integrity as a mental health provider. As I prepare for autonomous practice, this reflection will serve as both a personal and professional checkpoint—helping me ensure that every client, regardless of diagnosis, receives respectful, evidence-based, and empathetic care.


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