NURS 6521 – Pathophysiology of
Depression
NURS 6521 – Pathophysiology of Depression
Depression is considered to be one of the most common mental
disorders in the United States with an estimated 6.7% off all US
adults and 12.8% of adolescents having at least one occurrence of
depression in the last year with that number expected to increase
with each coming year (National Institute of Mental Health, 2017).
Advanced practice nurses must be able to recognize the signs of
depression in their patients and understand how to select the
most appropriate drug for them to use for treating each patient
since there are so many different options on the market today for
treating depression.
Although the pathophysiology of depression is not fully
understood, the majority of theories focus on a deficiency or
dysfunction of the neurotransmitters serotonin, norepinephrine, or
both (Arcangelo, Peterson, Wilbur, & Reinhold, 2017). Multiple
scales and diagnostic criteria are available for nurse practitioners
to utilize in order to help with the diagnosis of depression in
patients such as the DSM-5, the Hamilton Depression Scale, and
the Beck Depression Inventory (Arcangelo et al., 2017).
The nurse practitioner must also investigate where the depression
is coming from and then use this information along with the
severity of the depression to determine the best treatment plan
for the patient. When patients are started on a new drug therapy it
Professional Dissertation Editing Help
Professional Dissertation Editing Help Editing your dissertation is an important step in the process of completing your thesis project. It is essential to work with the best dissertation editors to ensure that your work is polished and perfect. There are many websites that offer dissertation editing services, but it is important to choose a company […]
