NURS 6630 WEEK 8 Assignment 1: Short Answer Assessment
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.
- NURS 6630 WEEK 8 Assignment 1: Short Answer Assessment
To complete:
Address the following Short Answer prompts for your Assignment. Be sure to include references to the Learning Resources for this week.
- 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?
- List 4 predictors of late onset generalized anxiety disorder.
- List 4 potential neurobiology causes of psychotic major depression.
- NURS 6630 WEEK 8 Assignment 1: Short Answer Assessment
- 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.
- List 3 classes of drugs, with a corresponding example for each class, that precipitate insomnia. Be specific.
Psychopharmacological Approaches to Treat Psychopathology
The appropriate drug therapy for a patient who presents with MDD and a history of alcohol abuse is cognitive-behavioral therapy. In MDD patients, cognitive-behavioral therapy identifies the particular rewards provided by alcohol use and presents healthier improved alternative options to attain the rewards. The drugs contraindicated for this patient are the benzodiazepines since they are frequently used with other medication types, including others with abusive potential, thus enhancing the toxic benzodiazepines effects. The time frame for the occurrence of acute withdrawal symptoms from therapeutic dosages of benzodiazepines is consistent with the half-life of the particular agent underuse.
Predictors of a late-onset generalized anxiety disorder include chronic mental and physical health disorders, low affective support and separation during childhood, poverty, and parents’ history of mental problems. Potential neurobiology causes of psychotic major depression include dopamine, acetylcholine, hypersensitivity to stress, serotonin dysfunction, and norepinephrine. One of the symptoms required for an episode of major depression to occur should either be anhedonia or a depressed mood. The secondary symptoms required for a major depressive disorder to occur include feelings of excessive guilt or worthlessness, insomnia or sleep difficulties, suicidality, and psychomotor agitation or retardation. NURS 6630 WEEK 8 Assignment 1: Short Answer Assessment One of the classes of drugs that precipitate insomnia includes selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors, which include antidepressants such as Zoloft and Prozac. The other class is medications used to lower blood pressure such as beta-blockers and alpha agonists. Dopamine agonists are also another class of drugs used to precipitate insomnia. Drugs under this class include various medications for Parkinson’s disease.
Reference
M-L Ancelin, X Zhang, K Ritchie, I Carriere, J Norton, and I Chaudieu, 2015. Risk Factors for
Late-Onset Generalized Anxiety Disorder: Results from a 12-Year Prospective Cohort
(The ESPRIT Study). https://www.nature.com/articles/tp201531 NURS 6630 WEEK 8 Assignment 1: Short Answer Assessment