PreTest Psychiatry: Mood Disorders Flashcards
___________ has become the first-line treatment for mania.
Valproate
It has been shown to be as effective as lithium, but does not have as many side effects.
Postpartum blues occurs in about ___% of women.
50
When is the most common time that a person who’s had a stroke develops depression?
6 months afterward
Sleep deprivation can trigger mania in a bipolar person. Provided they’re already taking therapeutic levels of mood stabilizers, what can you do to treat this?
Give benzodiazepines to help them get to sleep.
A woman with bipolar disorder who is taking a mood stabilizer presents with new-onset depression. How can you help her?
Continue the mood stabilizer and add an antidepressant. As soon as her depressive symptoms subside, discontinue the antidepressant to avoid the risk of inducing mania.
Side note: antidepressants induce mania in up to 30% of people with bipolar disorder.
How long do cyclothymia symptoms need to be present before a diagnosis of cyclothymia can be made?
2 years
True or false: feeling that you’d be better off dead without your spouse (after the spouse passes away) is characteristic of abnormal bereavement.
False.
This is considered normal. If they have a plan, however, then it is abnormal.
If a patient is taking the maximum dose of an SSRI and wishes to augment treatment because of lingering depression, then you should consider adding ______________.
lithium
Studies have shown that lithium can help treat refractory depression when added to an SSRI.
What are contraindications of electroconvulsive therapy?
- MI within 4 weeks
- Increased ICP (including from a space-occupying lesion)
- Aneurysms
- Bleeding disorders
What radiographic technique can detect depression?
PET scans sometimes show decreased blood flow in the frontal lobes.
