NURS 6630 WEEK 8 SHORT ANSWER ASSESSMENT

Sample Answer for NURS 6630 WEEK 8 SHORT ANSWER ASSESSMENT Included After Question

As a psychiatric nurse practitioner, you will likely encounter patients who suffer from various mental health disorders. Not surprisingly, ensuring that your patients have the appropriate psychopharmacologic treatments will be essential for their overall health and well-being. The psychopharmacologic treatments you might recommend for patients may have potential impacts on other mental health conditions and, therefore, require additional consideration for positive patient outcomes. For this Assignment, you will review and apply your understanding of psychopharmacologic treatments for patients with multiple mental health disorders.

RESOURCES

Be sure to review the Learning Resources before completing this activity.
Click the weekly resources link to access the resources.

WEEKLY RESOURCES

TO PREPARE

  • Review the Learning Resources for this week.
  • Reflect on the psychopharmacologic treatments that you have covered up to this point that may be available to treat patients with mental health disorders.
  • Consider the potential effects these psychopharmacologic treatments may have on co-existing mental health conditions and/or their potential effects on your patient’s overall health.

TO COMPLETE:

Address the following Short Answer prompts for your Assignment. Be sure to include references to the Learning Resources for this week.

  1. In 3 or 4 sentences, explain the appropriate drug therapy for a patient who presents with MDD and a history of alcohol abuse. Which drugs are contraindicated, if any, and why? Be specific. What is the timeframe that the patient should see resolution of symptoms?
  2. List 4 predictors of late onset generalized anxiety disorder.
  3. List 4 potential neurobiology causes of psychotic major depression.
  4. An episode of major depression is defined as a period of time lasting at least 2 weeks. List at least 5 symptoms required for the episode to occur. Be specific.
  5. List 3 classes of drugs, with a corresponding example for each class, that precipitate insomnia. Be specific.

BY DAY 7

This Assignment is due.

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A Sample Answer For the Assignment: NURS 6630 WEEK 8 SHORT ANSWER ASSESSMENT

Title: NURS 6630 WEEK 8 SHORT ANSWER ASSESSMENT

Short Answer Assessment 

  1. In 3 or 4 sentences, explain the appropriate drug therapy for a patient who presents with MDD and a history of alcohol abuse. Which drugs are contraindicated if any, and why? Be specific. What is the timeframe that the patient should see the resolution of symptoms? 

Recent controlled trial findings suggest that the best course of therapy for depression and alcohol dependency that co-occur is the combination of the antidepressant sertraline and the alcohol treatment drug naltrexone (Anker, 2019).Sertraline and naltrexone together have shown full remission of patients’ depressive symptoms and alcohol consumption between 8 to 12 weeks, with an early improvement in symptoms occurring within the first four weeks of usage (Thom et al., 2019).Antidepressants with an overdose risk, such as nortriptyline, duloxetine, or bupropion, are contraindicated in depressed people with a history of alcohol use(McHugh & Weiss, 2019). Because they may raise the risk of suicide, benzodiazepines are also not recommended. 

NURS 6630 Week 8: Assignment 1: Short Answer Assessment 
NURS 6630 Week 8: Assignment 1: Short Answer Assessment

List 4 predictors of late-onset generalized anxiety disorder.  

  • Being female 
  • A life adverse event that has occurred recently. 
  • Having chronic physical medical conditions like heart failure, arrhythmia, respiratory disorders, and dyslipidemia among others. 
  • History of mental disorders like depression, phobia, and GAD (Park & Zarate, 2019). 

List 4 potential neurobiology causes of psychotic major depression. 

  • Hypersensitive to stress (Thom et al., 2019). 
  • Serotonin deficiency  
  • Propensity for major depressive disorder 
  • Higher amounts of dopamine 

An episode of major depression is defined as a period lasting at least 2 weeks. List at least 5 symptoms required for the episode to occur. Be specific. 

  • A decline in vigor or fatigue (Mullen, 2018). 
  • Depression 
  • Anhedonia 
  • Sleep issues 
  • A feeling of worthlessness 

List 3 classes of drugs, with a corresponding example for each class, that precipitate insomnia. Be specific.  

  • Dopamine agonists, which include various Parkinson’s disease treatments like pramipexole and apomorphine. 
  • Selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs), like sertraline and Prozac (Mullen, 2018). 
  • Decongestants and cold medications, such as oxymetazoline and phenylephrine. 

 

References 

Anker, J. (2019). Co-Occurring Alcohol Use Disorder and Anxiety: Bridging the Psychiatric, Psychological, and Neurobiological Perspectives. Alcohol Research: Current Reviews, 40(1). https://doi.org/10.35946/arcr.v40.1.03 

McHugh, R. K., & Weiss, R. D. (2019). Alcohol Use Disorder and Depressive Disorders. Alcohol Research: Current Reviews, 40(1). https://doi.org/10.35946/arcr.v40.1.01 

Mullen, S. (2018). Major depressive disorder in children and adolescents. Mental Health Clinician, 8(6), 275-283.https://doi.org/10.9740/mhc.2018.11.275 

Park, L. T., & Zarate Jr, C. A. (2019). Depression in the primary care setting. New England Journal of Medicine, 380(6), 559-568.DOI: 10.1056/NEJMcp1712493 

Thom, R., Silbersweig, D. A., & Boland, R. J. (2019). Major depressive disorder in medical illness: a review of assessment, prevalence, and treatment options. Psychosomatic Medicine, 81(3), 246-255.DOI: 10.1097/PSY.0000000000000678‌