Affective Disorders - Depression Flashcards
What are mood disorders?
Disorders of mental status and function where altered mood is the (or a) core feature
What 4 aspects of depression does psychiatry focus on to determine whether or not it is abnormal?
- Persistence of symptoms
- Pervasiveness of symptoms
- Degree of impairment
- Presence of specific symptoms or signs
What are the 3 “spheres” of symptoms of depression?
Psychological
Physical
Social
Give a few symptoms which may occur in the psychological sphere?
- Change in mood (depression, anxiety, perplexity, anhedonia)
- Change in thought content (guilt, hopelessness, worthlessness ect)
What is an idea of reference?
False beliefs that random or irrelevant occurrences in the world directly relates to a person (e.g. think you walk past people and they are talking about/laughing at you)
What is a delusion?
An unshakable belief about where there is no evidence there to support it.
What is a hallucination?
Sensory experience where the person experiences something that is not there/not real
Give a few symptoms which may occur under the physical sphere?
- Change in bodily function (fatigue, sleep, appetite, libido, constipation, pain)
- Change in psychomotor functioning (agitation, retardation)
Give a few symptoms which may occur under the social sphere
- Loss of interests
- Irritability
- Apathy
- Withdrawal, loss of confidence, indecisive
- Loss of concentration, registration and memory
What is anhedonia?
Loss of ability to derive pleasure from experience
How long must symptoms have lasted to be given a diagnosis of depression?
At least 2 weeks
What factors upon presentation would negate from a diagnosis of depression?
- Previous hypomanic or manic episodes in lifetime (bipolar)
- Psychoactive substance use or organic mental disorder
When is someone considered to have severe depression with psychotic symtpoms and what must you do?
If psychotic symtpoms/stupor are present.
Need to exclude other psychotic illnesses (e.g. schizophrenia)
What is somatic syndrome?
A type of depression that is characterised by specific symptoms.
Some symptoms of somatic syndrome?
- Loss of interest in previously enjoyed activities
- Lack of emotional reactions
- Waking 2hrs before normal time
- Depression worse in morning
- Objective evidence of psychomotor agitation or retardation
- Loss of appetite
- Weight loss
- Marked loss of libido
