Student Answer on Mood Disorder-Nursing Paper Examples

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Hi EA

This patient appears to have a significant mood component that needs to be addressed, with the patient’s mother reporting symptoms beginning at age 8-10 years old and depression.  I would ask more questions surrounding prior behavior and presentation. The patient appears to have possibly met the criteria for a mood disorder, such as DMDD at that time and was diagnosed with ADHD. DMDD is characterized by severe outbursts and irritability, tantrums for at least 12 months, with difficulties in multiple settings (NIMH, 2023) 9Mood Disorder-Nursing Paper Examples).

My priority would be to address her mood which would help decrease the irritability. ADHD can mimic medical conditions associated with the thyroid, sleep disorders, epilepsy, other mental health diagnoses, or with other disorders such as mood and anxiety disorders, personality disorders, psychotic disorders, or due to the influence of substance use. (Drescher et al., 2020).  It would be necessary to complete labs to rule out any medical issues, especially with the additional information on the eating disorder and/or substance use (Mood Disorder-Nursing Paper Examples).

Additionally, you mentioned the patient having behavioral and conduct behaviors at school. However, it would be interesting to obtain additional information to see if the child was ever tested for learning disabilities. One of the most common comorbidities is learning disorders (Dreschler et al., 2020). This may be contributing to some of her presentations as well.  It does not appear the patient has ever attended therapy. The recommendations would be to start psychotherapy such as Cognitive Behavior Therapy (CDBT) and develop a treatment plan that should include the patient, parent(s), and the school to address all areas of the patient’s needs (Drescher et al., 2020) (Mood Disorder-Nursing Paper Examples). 

Thank you for your post. Good Job!