Psychiatry across the lifecourse Flashcards
Why do adolescants often make riskier decisions?
Prefrontal cortex matures later than cortical areas
Limbic reward systems mature earlier, and will affect behaviour more strongly than immature prefrontal control system
Peak onset for:
Autism
ADHD
Eating disorders
ASD: 9
ADHD: 12
Eating disorders: 17
10 year old girl, doesn’t want to sleep in the room alone, gets raised heart rate, sweating and difficulty breathing in crowded places and does not like doing presentations in class
Anxiety
10 year old boy, several attendances to GP and Emergency Department with recurrent abdominal pain, no physical cause found so far
Somatisation (bodily distress disorder)
15 year old young woman with tiredness, sleeping 12 hours/day, irritability and reduced enjoyment from her hobbies
Depression
4 year old boy, language is behind peers in class, doesn’t interact much with others, prefers watching buses/trains to playing in the playground
Autism Spectrum Disorder
8 year old boy who has been fidgeting in lessons, speaking out of turn and struggling to stay focused on homework tasks
ADHD
9 year old boy, has been using increasing amounts of alcohol hand gel, wearing rubber gloves when going outdoors and lining up the toys in his room before going to sleep
OCD
10 year old boy with involuntary movements in the face, neck and arms as well as making sounds which are not context-appropriate
Tourette’s syndrome AKA tic disorder
15 year old young man with conduct disorder has been truanting from school and stealing mother’s credit cards; he was found smelling of cannabis, and more recently has been smoking it in his bedroom
Substance misuse
16 year old young woman who has been cutting herself with a razor when feeling distressed, and recently has bought several packets of paracetamol
Self-harm and suicide
14 year old girl who has been spending a lot of time thinking about her weight, has cut out carbohydrates from her diet, has been skipping breakfast and is using grandfather’s laxatives to lose weight
Eating disorders
Difference between anorexia nervosa and bulimia
Anorexia nervosa defined by being under a certain weight
Bulimia characterised by binging & purging, but can be normal weight
Environmental risk factors for ADHD
- premature birth
- low birth weight
- prenatal tobacco exposure
- parental history of antisocial personality disorder
- non-intact family/single parent household
Clinical features of mild dementia
Judgement & problem-solving typically impaired
Difficulty making complex plans and handling finances
May appear unimpaired to those who don’t know them
