Depression Flashcards
What were Amy’s symptoms?
- Fatigue
- Disturbed sleep
- Indecisiveness
- Increased appetite
What other symptoms may you ask Amy about?
- Persistent sadness or low mood
- Loss of interests or please
- Agitation or slowing of movements
- Feelings of worthlessness or inappropriate guilt
- Suicidal thoughts or acts
What is the biopsychosocial model?
suggests that biological, psychological and social factors are all interlinked - mind and body are interlinked
What functions are affectsed in depressed people?
- endocrine (hormone)
- immune
- neurotransmitter system functioning
What factors influence depression?
- characteristic negative patterns of thinking, deficits in coping skills
- judgment problems
- impaired emotional intelligence (the ability to perceive, understand, and express emotions) that depressed people tend to exhibit
What can psychological factors be influenced by?
- biology
- biologically-based personality characteristics
- social factors
What social factors can contribute to someone’s depression?
- experiencing traumatic situations
- early separation
- lack of social support
- harassment (bullying)
What does the NICE guidelines use?
DSM-IV (diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders)
What is the criteria for major depressive disorder?
- 1 or more key symptoms
2. 5 or more total symptoms
What are the key symptoms for major depressive disorder?
- Most days, most of the time for at least 2 weeks
1. Persistent sadness or low mood
2. Marked loss of interests or please
What are the associated symptoms?
- Disturbed sleep (decreased or increased compared to usual)
- Decreased or increased appetite and/or weight
- Fatigue or loss of energy
- Agitation or slowing of movements
- Poor concentration or indecisiveness
- Feelings of worthlessness or excessive or inappropriate guilt
- Suicidal thoughts or acts
What is important to know about when asking about risk to yourself?
- Asking about self harm and suicide does not increase the risk of these things happening
- It is our job to explore this sensitivity if anything in the history flags that the patients might be at risk - have a duty to assess risk of harm to self in order to establish how best to support and manage our patients
- Think about risk to others especially in psychosis
True or false: History of self harm is associated with an increased risk of suicide?
True
True or false: Self harm is most common in elderly males?
False
True or false: An overdose of medication should always be considered a suicide attempt rather than an episode of self harm?
False
True or false: Asking about self harm or suicidal thoughts increases the risk of the patient going away and doing these things?
False
True or false: Can involve cutting scratching burning hair pulling?
True
True or false: may take other forms such as punching a wall, banging ones head against a hard object or even getting into fights?
True
True or false: self harm is usually a way of coping with or expressing difficult feelings?
True
True or false: only healthcare professionals that know the patient should explore their risk of self-harm or suicide
false
True or false: parasuicide can only be used to refer to suicide attempt that has failed?
false
True or false: suicide is a fatal act of self harm initiated with the intention of ending one’s own life?
True