Psychiatry: UWorld Flashcards
Classification of psychiatric illnesses by phase is necessary to determine the appropriate pharmacotherapy. What phase is defined as the end of an episode of illness and the option of either discontinuing treatment or continuing maintenance therapy with the goal of preventing a new episode?
Recovery
For an individual who has a monozygotic twin with bipolar disorder, what is the lifetime risk of developing the disorder?
70%
This disorder is characterized by the presence of symptoms of schizophrenia (hallucinations, delusions, disorganized speech, disorganized or catatonic behaviour, or negative symptoms such as flattened affect). These symptoms must be present for at least one month but less than six months.
Schizophreniform disorder
What is the treatment of choice for adjustment disorder?
Cognitive or psychodynamic psychotherapy
Lithium should not be administered to a bipolar patient with what?
Renal dysfunction
Lithium is excreted through the kidneys.
What is the treatment of choice for schizophrenic patients who suffer relapses due to treatment noncompliance with oral medications?
Depot antipsychotics (e.g. Fluphenazine, risperidone, paliperidone, and haloperidol)
These are long-acting injectable antipsychotics in depot form.
what disorder is characterized by the presence of 1 or more episodes of inability to recall important personal information that is too extensive to be considered ordinary forgetfulness and is usually related to a traumatic or stressful event?
Dissociative amnesia
What defense mechanism is characterized by the intense opposition to bringing unpleasant thoughts to conscious awareness?
Resistance
An example would be a woman who unconsciously realizes that her husband is a criminal but resists conscious assembly of the available evidence.
What mature defense mechanism is characterized by serving others in a positive manner to minimize internal fears?
Altruism
An example would be a patient with alcohol cirrhosis who has decided to sop drinking due to complications of cirrhosis. He wishes to help others and protect them from the dangers of alcoholism and has no desire to continue drinking alcohol.
What are the treament options for narcolepsy?
- Scheduled daytime naps
- Psychostimulants (Modafinil, Methylphenidate tc.)
- Combination of antidepressants and psychostimulants
Patients with Tourette syndrome have a significantly increased risk of developing what two other conditions?
- Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder
- Obsessive-compulsive disorder
There is also an increased incidence of conduct disorder, oppositional defiant disorder, and antisocial personality disorder in patients suffering from Tourette syndrome.
What is the timeframe for the diagnosis of schizophreniform disorder?
Symptoms lasting longer than 1 month but less than 6 months
What immature defense mechanism is characterized by the attribution of unacceptable internal thought or emotions to other individuals?
Projection
An example would be an unfaithful husband who accuses his wife of infidelity.
What disorder is characterized by manic episodes and may or may not include depressive episodes?
Bipolar I disorder
A key difference between DSM-IV and DSM-V is that patients with bipolar I disorder are, now, by definition, not required to have had a depressive episode.
What are the first-line drugs in the management of patients with social phobia?
SSRIs
Often used in combination with assertiveness training
The sudden onset of neurologic symptoms and a normal neurologic examination consistent with what?
Conversion disorder
These symptoms are not intentionally produced and occur more commonly in females
What thought process is characterized by abrupt, permanent deviation from the current subject?
Tangentiality
The new thought process is minimally relevant at best and never returns to the original subject.
For the diagnosis of major depressive disorder, patients should have at least how many of eight depressive symptoms and for what period of time?
5 of 8 symptoms for at least 2 weeks
Buspirone is used to treat what?
Generalized anxiety disorder
Generalized anxiety disorder is characterized by excessive worry or anxiety over many aspects of one’s life for at least how long?
6 months
Patients with generalized anxiety disorder have a hard time keeping these worries out of their mind and find them to be very distressing They also frequently have symptoms such as fatigue, restlessness, difficulty concentratin, irritability, and sleep disturbance.
Amantadine is used to treat what?
Parkinson’s disease
Amantadine is a dopamine agonist that has been shown to delay the onset and minimize the severity of dementia in patients with Parkinson’s disease.
What are the first line treatments for obsessive-compulsive disorder
Selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors or Clmipramine
Medications approved by the FDA include: Clomipramine, Fluoxetine, Fluvoxamine, Paroxetine, and Sertraline
Can a patient with a psychiatric diagnosis give informed consent?
Yes, unles their judgment and decision-making abilities are determined to be compromised
Which antidepressant is the most appropriate for treating a smoker with depressive symptoms?
Bupropion
This is the best option becuase it is useful both as an antidepressant and may be beneficial for smoking cessation.
This is the repetition of words or ideas during a conversation.
Perseveration
Psychotherapy and a trial of antidepressants thould be considered for a bereaved patient who has at least 2 weeks of symptoms of depression how long after the inciting event (major loss etc)?
6-8 weeks after
Gender dysphoria is considered to be an incongruence between a patient’s expressed gender and assigned gender for how long?
At least 6 months
Patients with this condition may wish to be treated as the other gender or to be rid of their sexual characteristics
Chlordiazepoxide is predominantly used for the treatment of what?
Alcohol withdrawal
What is diagnosed in a person that derives satisfaction from making another person ill?
Munchausen syndrome by proxy
Lithium therapy for single manic episode in a patient with bipolar disorder should be continued for how long?
Long-term maintenance for a period of at least one year
What immature defense mechanism is characterized by the assimilating of another person’s attitude into one’s own perspective.
Introjection
An example would be a battered woman who believes her husband is right when he says she is worthless.
What thought process is characterized by loosely associated thoughts that rapidly move from topic to topic?
Flight of ideas
How long after recieving antipsychotic medication can parkinsonian symptoms manifest?
4 days to 4 months after beginning treatment
This disorder is characterized by at least four pain symptoms involving multiple sites; at least two GI symptoms; sexual or reproductive symptoms other than pain; and one pseudoneurological symptom such as blindness, deafness, weakness, seizures, loss of consciuosness, or impaired balance. The symptoms persist for several years yet medical assessment is normal. The condition presents before the age of 30 and most frequently occurs in females
Somatization disorder
All depressed patients must be screened for what?
Suicidal ideation
Actively suicidal patients will often need to be hospitalized for stabilization and to maintain their safety.
Alcoholic hallucinosis is a type of alcohol withdrawal syndrome that typically develops and resolves at what time periods following the last drink?
- Develops within 12-24 hours of last drink
- Resolves within 24-48 hours of last drink
What class of medication is Desipramine?
Tricyclic antidepressant
What is the first-line treatment for specific phobias?
Cognitive behavioral therapy
Medication is considered second-line treatment for specific phobias. If medication is needed, beta-blockers and SSRIs are the best initial pharmacologic choices.
What disorder is characterized by persistent or recurrent feelings of detachment from one’s own physical or mental processes in the context of an intact sense of reality (like observing one’s own body and thoughts from afar, as in a dream)?
Depersonalization disorder
This condition usually results in significant occupational or functional impairment.
What is the treatment of choice for obsessive-compulsive disorder?
Selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) such as Paroxetine, Sertraline, Fluvoxamine, Fluoxetine
If a patient fails to respond to initial treatment with a SSRI, a trial of a different SSRI or Clomipramine is recommended.
Dystonia is characterized by muscle spasms/stiffness, tongue protrusion/twisting, opisthotonus, and oculogyric crisis.Hou long after recieving antipsychotic medication can it occur?
4 hours to 4 days after starting antipsychotic medication
What change is seen on CT scan of the brain of schizophrenic patients?
Increased ventricular size
Decreased cerebral mass, hippocampal mass, and temporal mass are also changes seen in schizophrenic patients.
Lithium exposure in the first trimester of pregnancy causes a twenty-fold increase int he risk of what?
Ebstein’s anomaly
- This is a cardiac malformation characterized by a malformed and inferiorly attached tricuspid valve that causes atrialization of the right ventrical and a decrease in the size of the functional right ventricle. Despite a twenty-fold increased risk, the incidence nevertheless remains very low (1/1,000) because this congenital malformation is quite rare in the general population.*
- Lithium exposure during the later trimesters may cause goiter and transient neonatal neuromuscular dysfunction.*
What disorder is characterized by episodes of major depression and hypomania (manic-like symptoms that are milder, do not require hospitalization, and do not cause psychosis)?
Bipolar II disorder
What disorder is characterized by the development of unexplained serious neurological symptoms preceded by an obvious emotional trigger (e.g a tragic event or argument)?
Conversion disorder
The symptoms are not artificially produced, are unexplained by any medical condition, and can be severe enough to cause social and functional impairment.
What immature defense mechanism is characterized by the altered perception of disturbing aspects of external reality in an effort to make it more acceptable?
Distortion
An example would be an intravenous drug abuser who contracts hepatitis C and blames his condition on inadequate control of hepatitis C within the community.
Classification of psychiatric illnesses by phase is necessary to determine the appropriate pharmacotherapy. What phase is characterized by significant improvement, generally defined as a 50% reduction in the baseline level of severity?
Response (acute phase)
What disorder is characterized by the state of experiencing familiar persons and surroundings as if they were strange or unreal?
Derealization disorder
What disorder is characterized by sudden and unexpected travel, the inability to remember the past, confusion about personal identity, and sometimes the assumption of a new identity?
Dissociative fugue
This is the only condition within the group of dissociative disorders that is associated with travel.
Which personality disorder is characterized by a pattern of distrust and suspiciousness of others?
- A tendency to negatively interpret the actions, words, and intentions of others
- The suspicion that others intend to harm or deceive them, though there may be little evidence supporting such concerns
- Long-held grudges
- Reluctance to confide in others
Paranoid personality disorder
Cluster A (odd, eccentric)
What differentiates acute stress disorder from post-traumatic stress disorder?
Acute stress disorder lasts < 1 month
Which atypical antipsychotic is most likely to cause extrapyramidal side effects?
Risperidone
Patients who develop acute dystonia from the use of antipsychotics should be treated with what?
Anticholinergics (Benztropine) or antihistamines (diphenhydramine)
What is the acute treatment for panic attacks?
Benzodiazepines
What immature defense mechanism is characterized by substituting a less disturbing view of the world in place of reality as a means of resolving conflict?
Fantasy
An example would be a mother interpreting the appearance of an angel in her dream as meaning her son with a terminal disease will live a long time.
Grief is the specific emotional response to a loss and includes pain, destress, and physical/emotional suffering. When does a normal grief reaction typically subside?
6 months after initial loss
Although symptoms can recur for up to 1 year and on particular days, such as anniversaries, the patient generally has overall improvement.
Severe symptoms of Tourette syndrome are best treated with what?
Typical antipsychotics
e.g. haloperidol or pimozide
Buspirone is used to treat what?
Generalized anxiety disorder
Buspirone is not considered an antidepressant.
Adolescents presenting with behavioral changes should be evaluated for what?
The use of illegal and illicit substances
In addition to substance use, other considerations include partner violence, date rape, physical or sexual abuse, and pregnancy.
What is the most suitable therapy for the initial treatment of a patient with bipolar disorder and elevated creatinine?
Valproate with or without an atypical antipsychotic
Lithium is contraindicated in renal failure due to its renal excretion.