NRBP 6665 Week 5: Mood and Anxiety Disorders in Children and Adolescents
INTRODUCTION
School and going out with my friends used to be fun, but not anymore. Mom keeps telling me just to go out and have fun, but I don’t see the point of trying. All my friends are better than I am. I keep having these headaches and just feel worthless. I used to get As and Bs in school, but not anymore. I can’t concentrate at school. I would rather be at home sleeping.
—Madison, age 16
Mood and anxiety disorders can be particularly challenging to address in childhood and adolescence for many reasons. Children may not be able to fully express or understand their feelings and behaviors. Parents may misattribute or not recognize signs and symptoms. The symptoms of disorders also vary when present in children as opposed to adults. The PMHNP needs to know how to diagnose these conditions and must understand the importance of integrating medication management strategies with both individual and family therapy to optimize treatment outcomes.
Medication Review
Review the FDA-approved use of the following medicines related to treating mood and anxiety disorders in children and adolescents.
| Bipolar depression |
Bipolar disorder |
| lurasidone (age 10–17)
olanzapine-fluoxetine combination (age 10–17) |
aripiprazole (age 10–17)
asenapine (for mania or mixed episodes, age 10–17)
lithium (for mania, age 12–17)olanzapine (age 13–17)
quetiapine (age 10–17)
risperidone (age 10–17) |
| Generalized anxiety disorder |
Depression |
| duloxetine (age 7–17) |
escitalopram (age 12–17)
fluoxetine (age 8–17) |
| Obsessive-compulsive disorder |
| clomipramine (age 10–17)
fluoxetine (age 7–17)
fluvoxamine (age 8–17)
sertraline (age 6–17) |
NRNP 6665 Week 5 Assignment – Patient Education for Children and Adolescents
Patient education is an effective tool in supporting compliance and treatment for a diagnosis. It is important to consider effective ways to educate patients and their families about a diagnosis—such as coaching, brochures, or videos—and to recognize that the efficacy of any materials may differ based on the needs and learning preferences of a particular patient. Because patients or their families may be overwhelmed with a new diagnosis, it is important that materials provided by the practitioner clearly outline the information that patients need to know.
For this Assignment, you will pretend that you are a contributing writer to a health blog. You are tasked with explaining important information about an assigned mental health disorder in language appropriate for child/adolescent patients and/or their caregivers.
