Short Answer Assessment

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Assignment 1: Short Answer Assessment

As a psychiatric nurse practitioner, you will likely encounter patients who suffer from various mental health disorders. Not surprisingly, ensuring that your patients have the appropriate psychopharmacologic treatments will be essential for their overall health and well-being. The psychopharmacologic treatments you might recommend for patients may have potential impacts on other mental health conditions and, therefore, require additional consideration for positive patient outcomes. For this Assignment, you will review and apply your understanding of psychopharmacologic treatments for patients with multiple mental health disorders.

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To Prepare

· Review the Learning Resources for this week.

· Reflect on the psychopharmacologic treatments that you have covered up to this point that may be available to treat patients with mental health disorders.

· Consider the potential effects these psychopharmacologic treatments may have on co-existing mental health conditions and/or their potential effects on your patient’s overall health.

To complete:

Address the following Short Answer prompts for your Assignment. Be sure to include references to the Learning Resources for this week.

1. In 3 or 4 sentences, explain the appropriate drug therapy for a patient who presents with MDD and a history of alcohol abuse. Which drugs are contraindicated, if any, and why? Be specific. What is the timeframe that the patient should see resolution of symptoms?

2. List 4 predictors of late onset generalized anxiety disorder.

3. List 4 potential neurobiology causes of psychotic major depression.

4. An episode of major depression is defined as a period of time lasting at least 2 weeks. List at least 5 symptoms required for the episode to occur. Be specific.

5. List 3 classes of drugs, with a corresponding example for each class, that precipitate insomnia. Be specific. 

This is the comment he makes (SSRI's for MDD in SUD) and gave 67/75. Can you use this a sample

Psychopharmacologic Treatment for Mental Health Disorders

Question 1

One of the most appropriate drug therapy for patients with MDD and alcohol abuse is desipramine. Desipramine is an antidepressant belonging to the tricyclic antidepressant category and is useful for alcohol use and depression (Stern et al., 2016). In addition to the drug being used for depression treatment, it does not have side effects when used with alcohol, and it reduces the urge to use alcohol and increases the time for relapse in alcohol use. It takes about two to three weeks for a patient to feel the effectiveness of desipramine (Stern et al., 2016). 

Question 2

There are several predictors of late-onset generalized anxiety disorder. These predictors include having a chronic case of physical disorders like heart failure, cognitive impairment, and respiratory disorders (Stern et al., 2016). Mental disorders are also predictors of generalized anxiety disorder, including depression and phobia. The other predictors include poverty which results in increased cases of related mental disorders like depression and stress. Cases of recent life events in the past are also a predictor of a generalized anxiety disorder (Stern et al., 2016). These life events manifest in the future after they already occurred. 

Question 3

Psychotic major depression occurs due to several factors, including neurobiology causes. Polymorphisms genes may increase the risk of people developing psychotic major depression. The most common neurobiology causes of psychotic major depression include genes where an individual has a family with a history of psychotic major depression (Kennis et al., 2020). The other neurobiology cause is recent instances of psychosocial stress, which affects the neurobiological system, which is important in maintaining low levels of depression (Han et al., 2018). The third major cause is psychological adversity in childhood. Recurrent instances of acute depression also result in future cases of psychotic major depression.

Question 4

Major depression is characterized by a persistent feeling of sadness that occurs for more than two weeks. Its major symptoms include high feelings of anxiety and loss of interest and sadness (Han et al., 2018). It also manifests as agitation and irritability behavior. Major depression also manifests as insomnia and excessive sleeping. A person with major depression also lacks concentration and suicidal thoughts (Kennis et al., 2020). Sudden loss or gaining of weight is also a characteristic of major depression. 

Question 5

There are different classes of drugs that precipitate insomnia. They include selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors. Examples of selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors include Prozac and Zoloft (Matheson & Hainer, 2017). Dopamine agonists also cause insomnia, and an example is Lisuride. The other class of drugs which precipitate insomnia is steroids. Examples of steroids causing insomnia include Dexamethasone and Deflazacort (Matheson & Hainer, 2017).

References

Han, L. K., Aghajani, M., Clark, S. L., Chan, R. F., Hattab, M. W., Shabalin, A. A., ... & Penninx, B. W. (2018). Epigenetic aging in major depressive disorder. American Journal of Psychiatry, 175(8), 774-782. Retrieved From: https://doi.org/10.1176/appi.ajp.2018.17060595

Kennis, M., Gerritsen, L., van Dalen, M., Williams, A., Cuijpers, P., & Bockting, C. (2020). Prospective biomarkers of major depressive disorder: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Molecular psychiatry, 25(2), 321-338. Retrieved From: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41380-019-0585-z

Matheson, E. M., & Hainer, B. L. (2017). Insomnia: pharmacologic therapy. American family physician, 96(1), 29-35. Retrieved From: https://www.aafp.org/afp/2017/0701/p29.html

Stern, T. A., Favo, M., Wilens, T. E., & Rosenbaum, J. F. (2016). Massachusetts General Hospital Psychopharmacology and neurotherapeutics. Elsevier.