Psychiatry Flashcards
What class of drug does mirtazapine belong to?
Noradrenergic and serotonergic antidepressants
What are some common side effects of mirtazepine?
Drowsiness
Increased appetite
What are some side effects of tricyclic antidepressants?
Drowsiness Urinary retention (can cause overflow incontinence) Lengthening QT Blurred vision Constipation (Anticholinergic symptoms)
What are some side effects of clozapine?
Low WCC (neutropenia) - agranulocytosis
What are indications for ECT?
Catatonia
Severe resistant depression
Manic episodes
Moderate depression that responded to previous ECT
What effect does smoking have on clozapine?
It makes it less effective
What is Cotard Syndrome?
The delusion that you are already dead
What is a common symptom occurring around 36-hours post cessation of drinking?
Withdrawal seizures - alcohol enhances GABA mediated inhibition, withdrawal means there is decreased GABA and increased NMDA glutamate transmission
Give benzodiazepine post-cessation for seizures
What is the difference between positive and negative symptoms?
Positive symptoms are an increase of normal function
Negative symptoms are a decrease or loss of normal function
What questions need to be asked in a psych screening review?
Schizophrenia - hallucinations, delusions, delusional perception
Depression - mood, sleep, energy, appetite, future, suicidal thoughts, relationships
Other - memory loss, anxiety, insight
What is involve in a mental state examination?
ASEPTIC Appearance and behaviour Speech Emotions Perceptions Thoughts Insight Cognition
What are the four ‘p’s in the biopsychosocial formulation?
Predisposing factors
Precipitating
Perpetuating
Protective
How is capacity decided?
Assume patient to have capacity unless proven otherwise
A patient must be able to understand the information presented to them, weigh up the pros and cons, retain the information and be able to communicate their decision back
The Mental Capacity Act
What is a section 3?
6 month inpatient stay
Done by a S12, doctor, AMHP
Can force treatment in first 3 months
What is the name of alcohol-induced thiamine deficiency?
Korsakoff’s Psychosis (thiamine deficiency), Wernicke’s Encephalopathy
What is a section 4 and who can use it?
72 hours holding, can be done by one doctor and an AMHP, used when waiting for a second doctor would result in undesirable results
What is the unit limit for woman?
14 units (now same as men)
What are the features of Wernicke’s encephalopathy?
CAN OPEN confusion, ataxia, nystagmus, ophthalmoplegia, peripheral neuropathy
What to give someone to prevent alcohol withdrawal symptoms?
Chlordiazepoxide
What physical health problems do alcohol cause?
Alcoholic cirrhosis and hepatitis GI: nausea and vomiting, gastritis, peptic ulcers, Mallory-Weiss tears, pancreatitis AF Acute intoxication Foetal alcohol syndrome Subdural haemorrhage
What can occur in alcohol withdrawal?
Seizures (grand mal)
Delirium tremens
Coarse tremors, sweating, insomnia, tachycardia (pulse >100), hallucinations, n+v
Alcohol hallucinosis
What is Delirium Tremens? How is it treated?
Tremor, agitation, dilated pupils, visual hallucinations, seizures – DT occurs in acute alcohol withdrawal, treat with benzodiazepines (lorazepam)
Name 3 features of dependency.
Habits in obtaining and using your dependent substance, use of dependant substance to avoid a withdrawal, increased tolerance, continued use despite negatives, pattern use
Give 8 signs of dependence:
Compulsion to drink, Aware of harms but persists, Neglecting other activities, Tolerance of alcohol, Stopping = withdrawal, Stereotypes problems, Time preoccupied by alcohol, Out of control, Persistent desire to cut down
What is classified as Type C?
Avoidant, Dependent, OCPD
Someone who has shallow affect, very ambitious and self-serving is…?
Histrionic
Give 5 points on the PCL-R?
Short term marital relations, parasitic lifestyle, poor impulse control, low threshold for discharge of aggression, ego-centralism, lack of remorse, superficial charm, lack of realistic long-term goals, difficulty in accepting responsibility
33y teacher has an attack of autonomic symptoms and a sense of impending doom. Name the acute attack.
Panic attack
Name 2 endocrine/metabolic causes of anxiety.
Hyperthyroid disease (thyrotoxicosis), ictal anxiety (epilepsy), phaeochromoytoma.
What is the name of the cognitive symptom where you feel like she is going to die.
Thanatophobia
A patient describes feelings of being removed from her body/the real world. Name these 2 sensations.
Depersonalisation. Derealisation.
Name the fear of crowded places.
Agoraphobia
What is the term used to describe behaviours in those who take psychoactive substances?
Addictive behaviour
Dependence
What are the three types of personality disorder? What are the key symptoms of the 9 different personality disorders?
Type A - Psychoses (Paranoid, Schizoid, Schizotypal)
Type B - (Antisocial, Histrionic, Narcissistic, Borderline)
Type C - (Avoidant, Obsessive/Anankastic, Dependent)
What clusters can personality disorders be divided into?
Withdrawn
Inhibited
Antisocial
Dependent
What is another name for obsessive personality disorder?
Anankastic - anxious, doubting, indecisiveness cautious, pedantry, rigidity, perfectionism, preoccupation with order and details, rigid adherence to rules, inflexibility
What is the difference between obsessive compulsive personality disorder and OCD? Use the two ‘e’ words.
Egodystonic - thoughts and behaviours are in conflict with a person’s ideal self-image
Egoyntonic - the patient doesn’t see anything wrong with what they are doing, behaviours are in line with their needs
What are your differentials for PD?
Schizophrenia, hypomania
Drug and alcohol-induced states
Organic psychosis (Wilson’s Disease)
What is attachment theory and what are the three types?
Bowlby’s theory of the importance of attachment in personal development and the need to form attachment to a caregiver
What are the 2 key symptoms groups in OCD?
Obsession
Compulsion
How can you treat OCD?
CBT Self-help exposure therapy Response prevention therapy SSRI high dose (NOT FIRST LINE) Chlomipramine (tricylci antidepressant)
If insight is not maintained what is the more likely diagnosis?
Obsessive Compulsive Personality Disorder
What are the 5 elements required for a PTSD diagnosis?
Major trauma experience Thoughts, nightmares and flashbacks Emotional blunting Increased arousal and hypervigilance Latency period of a few weeks to months
How is GAD treated?
CBT Counselling Relaxation techniques Benzodiazepines SSRIs
What is body dysmorphic disorder?
A distressing preoccupation with some imagined or slight defect of appearance in a normal appearing person
What are the 3 main types of phobic disorders?
Specific phobias
Agoraphobia
Social phobias
Define hyperarousal and hypervigilance?
Hypervigilance - too much sensitivity to threats that are not worth worrying about
Hyperarousal - the inability to relax during times when you are meant to relax
What are neuroses?
neuroses are understandable symptoms that are quantitatively different from normal such as increased anxiety levels
What are risk factors for anxiety?
Environmental factors such as familiar background, there may be a genetic inherited predisposition to neurosis, premorbid anxious avoidant personality, a link to early childhood separation
Why does Munchausen occur? How can it be diagnosed?
This is a disorder in which a person deliberately acts as if they have a mental or physical illness when they are not sick. It is associated with severe emotional difficulty. The pathological lying may be to the extreme that they present to different hospitals under different names.
What are the three types of somatoform disorders?
Somatization disorder - chronic physical symptoms persisting for several years with no adequate medical explanation
Hypochondriac - unrealistic alarm by symptoms assuming it is the cause of a serious illness
Persistent Pain Disorder - severe and distressing pain that cannot be explained by physiological or physical disorder (emotion link)
What are physical findings in anorexia?
Laguno hair - fine downy hair growth in response to loss of body fat Failure of secondary sex characteristics Bradycardia Cold intolerance yellow-tinge on skin
What is Charles Bonnet syndrome?
Visual hallucinations associated with eye disease
Over what period of time should SSRIs be stopped?
4 weeks (except fluoxetin as it has a longer half-life)
What is tardive dyskinesia
Chewing, jaw pouting or excessive blinking
Occurs in patients on anti-psychotics
What hormonal effects does anorexia have on the body?
Anorexia nervosa – growth hormone, glucose, salivary glands, cortisol, cholesterol all RAISED, low FSH