2025 prepare for national certification
Depression - ✔✔✔-mood disorder characterized by depressive symptoms that last longer than two
weeks.
-influenced by genetic and environmental factors
-Signs and symptoms of depression include:
• sad or irritable mood
• feelings of hopelessness, worthlessness, or emptiness
• diminished interest in activities
• significant weight or appetite changes
• fatigue, sleep disturbances including difficulty sleeping (insomnia) or sleeping too much
• cognitive changes such as difficulty concentrating, remembering infor, or making decisions
Imbalance of what neurotransmitters can result in depression? - ✔✔✔lower levels of:
dopamine
serotonin
norepinephrine
-Depressed patients often have decreased neurotransmitter activity in the prefrontal cortex (PFC) region
of the brain
• controls attention, mood, and personality
Major Depressive Disorder (MDD) - ✔✔✔-primary feature of MDD is the occurrence of at least one
episode of major depression lasting at least two weeks
-must experience 5+ of the following in 2 weeks to be dx'd with a major depressive episode
• feeling low most of the day for most days
• decreased interest in activities
• substantial weight loss, significant change in appetite
• fidgeting, random movement (pacing)
,• decreased energy
• sense of guilt or worthlessness
• lack of focus or ability to make decisions
• repeated thoughts of death and suicide
Antidepressants - ✔✔✔SSRIs
-inhibit 5-HT reuptake
SNRIs
-inhibit 5-HT reuptake
-inhibit NE reuptake (↑ energy, focus)
-increase DA in prefrontal cortex (↑ cognition)
NDRIs
-inhibit DA reuptake (↑alertness, motivation)
-inhibit NE reuptake (↑energy)
Psychotic symptoms: Positive Symptoms - ✔✔✔-Hallucinations
-Delusions
-Thought disorder
-Hostility
-Excitability
Psychotic symptoms: Motor Symptoms - ✔✔✔-Motor delay
-Dyscoordination
-EPS
• Parkinsonism
• Dyskinesia
, Psychotic symptoms: Affective Symptoms - ✔✔✔-Depression
-Anxiety
-Suicidality
Psychotic symptoms: Cognition - ✔✔✔-Attention
-Working memory
-Verbal memory
-Visual memory
-Executive functioning
-Processing speed
-Social conditioning
Psychotic symptoms: Negative Symptoms - ✔✔✔-Affective flattening
-Alogia
-Anhedonia
-Amotivation
-Asociality
Symptoms of Psychosis: Hallucinations - ✔✔✔-Perceptual experiences in the absence of external stimuli
• Auditory: hearing things that are not there (may include command hallucinations in which voices
direct the client to perform actions, often related to self-harm or violence towards others)
• Visual: seeing things that are not there
• Tactile: feeling sensations in the body in the absence of stimuli
• Olfactory: smelling things that are not there
• Gustatory: tasting things that are not there
Symptoms of Psychosis: Delusions - ✔✔✔-Fixed false, irrational beliefs