16. Working with Depressed Patients
Breast cancer treatment information
1. Safety First- Risk of Suicide
2. The world really looks as bad as the patient says
3. Observers tend to become aware of depressed mood long after the patient (opposite of mood elevation)
3. Clinical Characteristics of Mania
1. Classic presentation of mania a state infectious euphoria
2. Frequently the “mood elevation” in mania is “dysphoric” in which irritability dwarfs, the euphoric or expansive quality of mood.
1. The jolly state is often transient or absent
Canadian pharmacy viagra
2. Conceptually- opposite of depression, but can overlap
1. Depression ratings are often higher during mania than during depression
3. Manifestations of early stages of mood elevation are often subtle, culture bound and may appear more isolated than the pervasive disturbance associated with depression
4. Risk of suicide increases during manic episodes
Horny Goat Weed
1. Thwarting a manic patient increases the potential for suicide and violence
2. The end of a manic episode is often extremely uncomfortable
1. Increased risk of substance abuse to sustain the high
2. Increased risk for suicide especially if mood state drops into depression
3. Patients are very poor reporters of mood elevation
1. Inter-rater reliability for mania is very high
2. inter-rater reliability for hypomania is very low
4. Not all manics are psychotic
5. Thought disorder is common in acute mania
1. 15-30% of acute manics exhibit Schneiderian first rank symptoms
2. About 50% show delusions, about 1/3 hallucinations
3. Variability extreme-clear to confused, with alternation
4. Differentiation from schizophreniform disorders may be impossible in acutely
6. Unipolar Mania
1. Rare, but no data indicate its a separate entity
2. Same risk of affective illness for first-degree relatives
3. Lower incidence of rapid cycling and suicide attempts
7. Mania can be a form of psychosis and may present with characteristic symptoms of thought disorder indistinguishable from schizophreniform disorder
8. Bipolar affective Disorder
1. Any history of Mania
2. Most have history of meeting criteria for Major depressive episodes
3. Always recurrent
9. Clinical Notes
1. Among bipolar patients, 10-20% present with a manic episode or history of such an episode
2. First onset of manic episode without prior depression is very rare after age 65
3. The hostility of manics is generally more dramatic than that of paranoid schizophrenia
4. Tearfulness, depressed mood, even suicidal ideation are not uncommon at the height of a manic episode or in the transition from mania to retarded depression
5. Time from 1st depressive episode to 1st manic episode is up to a decade or more; mode = 5-6 years. (Akiskal, APA III)
6. The differential diagnosis from schizophrenia
1. Long course with periods of normal or “supernormal” functioning favors BP disorder
2. Psychotic symptoms in affective disorder tend to occur at the height of mania and depth of depression
3. Poverty of speech content (vagueness, but not poverty of speech or laconic speech) and severe affective flattening tend to favor schizophrenia Dx
Ultram 100 mg online
4. Response to lithium or a TCA favors affective Dx
5. Positive DST and REM latency test, possibly blunted TRH test response can help identify affective disorder
6. Differential diagnosis form alcoholism
Comorbid alcohol abuse is common to many psychiatric illness, but sociopathy is the only diagnosis with a higher rate of comorbid alcoholism than bipolar illness. Alcohol abuse is considerably more likely to occur in association with mania than during depression.
The prognosis for alcoholism is better with comorbid bipolar illness than for alcoholism alone (Am J Psychi, 1995).
1. Diagnosis is bipolar illness if a single episode can be documented with
1. mania/hypomania independent of substance abuse or 2. with symptoms mood elevation clearly before substance abuse
2. Family hx is very useful
Canadian pharmacy
10. Course of Illness:
1. Prior to first major mood episode nonaffective diagnoses are common
1. Anxiety Disorders
2. Elimination Disorder
3. Sleep Disorders
4. Disruptive Behavior Disorders
5. Substance abuse
2. Chronic with periods of acute illness between which recovery to baseline function
3. Follow-up and Recovery
1. Over 30-40 year follow-up suggested 50% of BP patients achieved a full recovery
2. A small percentage suffer severe deterioration.
3. Harrow et al suggest <25% have excellent outcome
4. If recurrent, depressive episodes became more frequent, with shorter intervals between them, as patient gets older.
5. Progressive sensitization vs clustering
4. Manic Episodes are typically mixed with elements of both depression and mania
1. Coexisting or rapid alternation (bad prognosis)
1. Nearly 40% remain ill >1.5 yrs (Keller et al)
2. About 40% of manic episodes meet criteria for mixed state
2. DSM IV requires 1 week with symptoms meeting both As formalized in DSM IV, the criteria for mixed episodes provides a standard which enhances reliability of the diagnosis. It is unclear, however, if the stringent criteria requiring symptoms sufficient to meet both full depression and mania is clinically different than simply having the quality of dysphoric mood during mania. Several studies suggest prognosis is worse if manic episode is accompanied by 2 or more depressed symptoms or simply has includes the quality of dysphoric mood. There are no studies directly comparing the prognosis or treatment response of mixed episodes defined strictly versus loosely.
Female pink viagra
Many studies lump rapid cycling (especially of with short cycle length) with mixed episodes. This is reasonable since the reliability of diagnosing the onset and offset of short periods of dysphoria and mood elevation is probably quite low. If cycling length is on the order of 24 hrs it appears pointless to differentiate rapid cycling from mixed episodes. Such mixed episodes may represent an extreme form of rapid cycling
3. Mixed Episodes
1. Associated with secondary neuropsychiatric factors
1. Substance abuse
2. Subclinical drug toxicity
2. Higher prevalence among females
1. Winokur 1969, Murphy 1974, Krishnan 1983
3. Are mixed episodes the result of progressive worsening (kindling) ?
1. Typical of episodes of among Children and Adolescents
2. Mixed vs Pure
1. Over course of illness in 108 women (Dell’Osso 1990)
1. Median onset mania 30.6 yrs
2. Median onset mixed 39.2 yrs
2. Number of prior episodes not greater in Mixed (Prien 1988)
3. Greater number of prior hospitalizations for depression-(Post 1989) Family hx – (Dell’Osso 1990)
1. no difference – overall rate of affective illness
2. Rate of unipolar illness higher in relatives of Mixed
3. Rate of bipolar illness higher in relatives of Pure
11. Working with Bipolar patients
1. Understand that there is a person apart from the illness
2. Families/employers/friends tend to tolerate depression better than mania
3. Understand that mood is a filter coloring all experience
1. Consider the possibility of current pathological mood state
2. It is pointless to argue with a manic patient
Recent Comments