Exam 13: Depressive Disorders

In teaching about the management of the care of a patient with major depressive disorder who has expressed thoughts of suicide, the psychiatric advanced practice nurse emphasizes that the risk is greatest

A patient says that she has been becoming increasingly depressed following the birth of her first child 4 months ago. She had an episode of depression in her 20s but recovered. Now, she is becoming more despondent, crying, and sleeping a lot. She fears that she may hurt the baby if she does not get treatment. A possible diagnosis is

Core symptoms of complicated grief include experiencing which of the following symptoms more than 6 months after the death?

A patient who has been taking venlafaxine (Effexor) for major depressive disorder with melancholic features says that suddenly he can't sleep and spends hours writing to his congressman with his ideas of how to reduce the national debt. The psychiatric advanced practice nurse considers all of the following but selects which one as the most likely explanation for the change in his clinical presentation:

Which of the following is a frontline treatment for insomnia in depressed elderly individuals?

The patient says that she has been feeling sad and having difficulty sleeping over the past 6 weeks. She says she has lost her appetite and has lost about 10 lb. This is the first time she has felt this way and she cannot recall any specific unsetting event. Given this minimal information, an initial diagnosis might be

Electroconvulsive therapy has been found to be effective in which of the following conditions?

Which one of the following somatic therapies is no longer used to treat depression?

Compared with unipolar depression, the depressed phase of bipolar disorder

Post's theory of depression states that early experience may make the brain more sensitive to future stressors and to recurrence of depressive episodes. This theory is often referred to as

The patient says that for the last 5 years, she has begun to feel depressed around the time the golf season ends in November and begins to feel better when she is able to get outdoors to play again in April. When she is depressed, she craves carbohydrates, overeats, and gains weight. She has no energy and wants to sleep all the time and she is irritable and snaps at people. The psychiatric advanced practice nurse considers which of the following diagnoses?

A young adult who works as a court reporter describes herself as being depressed most of the time and says she has been that way since her teens. She denies any weight loss or sleep disturbances. She describes problems with concentration, difficulty making decisions, and lack of energy that are causing her problems at work. Which of the following is the most likely diagnosis?