Introduction
Growth and development are apparent and an inevitable process. As children progress through the developmental stages, they experience different psychological, emotional, sociological, and physical changes. During growth, the brain of a child is also under development, taking in various impulses into the neurons, which lead to the child’s decision making. One major contributor to a child’s brain development and reaction is the culture and society surrounding him or her during the development. As children are in their developmental stages, they perceive the environment differently, and some are often overwhelmed by the rapid developments (Petersen, 2017). It is the parents or the guardians’ responsibility to guide the young ones as they mature and begin to see life in different dimensions. However, some are unfortunate and get to experience different and difficult situations which may lead to mental health disorders such as depressions. In this paper, a case study of a young boy with symptoms of depression will be analyzed after which treatment decisions will be selected for the client. The client is a pediatric patient and thus it will be good to select the medications with good safety profile and few side effects/metabolic effects. The paper will also discuss the ethical issues likely to influence and affect the client’s treatment plan.
Case Study
The case study involves an eight-year-old African-American male who arrives at the ER with his mother accompanying him. According to his medical conditions, as described by his mother, he is exhibiting signs of depression with complains of feeling sad. His mother then states that his school teacher complained of his withdrawal from classwork and his peers and that he was no longer actively involved in school work and activities as before. His mother has also noticed a decrease in appetite, and his eating rate was going down to the drain. Also, his mother had occasionally noticed some sporadic episodes of irritation. Alex had successfully gotten past all developmental landmarks at the appropriate stages. physical examinations showed no abnormal findings. Alex was then referred to psychiatry for further evaluation.
After examination, the boy’s mental status exam exhibited alert and oriented x3, which showed that the boy was aware of his environment and surroundings, and he knew who he was during a specific time. The mental exam showed that his speech was clear, spontaneous, goal-oriented, and coherent. He said that he felt sad, affect was somewhat blunted, but he smiled on various occasions during the clinical interview. During examination, he denies visual or auditory hallucinations. The assessment did not indicate any paranoid or delusional thought process and his insight and judgment appeared appropriate for his age. From the examination, it can be concluded that the boy is not endorsing active suicidal ideation, but at times he thinks of himself as dead and what it would be like to be dead. The client was administered with the Children’s Depression Rating Scale and scored 30, indicating significant depression. The client was thus diagnosed with depression. Treatment goal for this client will include administering pharmacological agents to enhancing his appetite, improve sleep patterns, and decrease social anxiety that the boy showed in school withdrawing from his peers.
Decision Point One
The decision that was made from a mental health provider’s perspective, putting in mind the boy’s age and condition, was to administer with Zoloft 25 mg, which was to be taken orally daily for four weeks (month) where he was required to return to the clinic for evaluation. Zoloft, also known as Sertraline, is majorly used to treat panic attacks, depression, social anxiety, traumatic stress disorder, and a severe form of the premenstrual disorder (Karp, 2017). To recommend this drug, it was certain from the mental exam that the eight-year-old boy has exhibited some forms of depression, which led to him withdrawing from his peers in school and reducing his appetite. The safety and tolerability of Zoloft in children have been established (Locher et al., 2017). The medication is an Selective Serotonin Reuptake inhibitors (SSRI) whose mechanism of action is to elevate the level of serotonin in the brain. The increased amount of serotonin in the brain will improve the client’s mood and thus help in improving the depressive symptoms.
Zoloft was the best option as while the other two options are also used to treat the same signs exhibited by the boy. It has not been clinically proven that Paxil, being administered 10mg in a day, would be the be
Order this paper