Psychiatric Treatment of Depressed Patients

Running Head: PSYCHIATRIC TREATMENT OF DEPRESSED PATIENTS
PSYCHIATRIC TREATMENT OF DEPRESSED PATIENTS
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Authors Note
Word count: 1000

PSYCHIATRIC TREATMENT OF DEPRESSED PATIENTS1
Clinical Reasoning Cycle is a method where information is collected and processed by
nurses. The problem of the patient is understood and as per requirement, nursing measures are
taken to care for the patients (Levett-Jones et. al., 2010). The nurses also use this process as a
learning outcome. This essay focuses on the health problems of Alison and effective methods to
cure her disease. Processing of information is a crucial stage of Clinical Reasoning Cycle. It
provides the medical practitioners the key to judge and assess the patient and prescribe
medications accordingly.
The Clinical Reasoning Cycle includes eight steps for diagnosis. They are:
a) Considering the patient’s situation.
b) Collecting information.
c) Processing information.
d) Recognizing the problem.
e) Establish goals.
f) Taking action.
g) Evaluating outcomes.
h) Learning outcomes and process reflection.
The social situation of the patient is - Mrs. Alison is a divorcee with two children aged 9 and
11 years old. She has a boyfriend named Dave who has lost interest in her. She has a sister and
currently diagnosed with clinical depression. There are many reasons for developing mental
health problems like family and peer pressure, pressure of education, any kind of trauma, natural
disaster, losing of loved ones and many more. The nurse should perform Mental State
Examination on Alison. The test reveals memory, orientation, attitude and cognition of the
patient (Tsai et.al.2016). The physical appearance of the patient was not at all representative. She

PSYCHIATRIC TREATMENT OF DEPRESSED PATIENTS2
had short hair with dull clothing. Her hair was not tidy and her body language was clumsy. Her
attitude was non-oriented. She was not being able to maintain an eye contact with the nurse,
which revealed that she was shy. She was low-spirited and her speech was nearly inaudible. She
was very sad and tearful and she lacked focus in the interview. Analyzing the video, it was found
that although she was answering all the questions in a hesitant manner and was quite nervous,
but she remembered all the sequence of events, which happened about four years ago when she
got divorced. It also came into light that she took few attempts of suicide earlier in life because
of depression. Mentally she was socially isolated and lacked a complete social identity. She was
intelligent as she accepted her sister’s advice and consulted a nurse.
Collecting information both qualitative and quantitative is important. Depression,
nowadays, is a very common mental disorder. It is characterized by low mood and sadness.
There is lack of interest in activities that people normally used to enjoy. This character was also
present in Alison, which confirmed that she was a patient of depression. In order to plan for a
mental health plan for Alison, the nurse should comply with her socio and economic condition.
She finds out that Alison was paid low wages in the supermarket where she works. She was not
able to meet her kids’ needs due to financial crisis. This also added to her depression. Moreover,
her relationship with her boyfriend was not good as Dave was not serious with the relationship
and she feels stressed. The nurse needs to process the information then.
There are eight diagnostic criteria of DSM 5 for assessing clinical depression. The
individual must experience at least five symptoms for a span of at least two weeks for DSM 5 to
be diagnosed (Depression Definition and DSM-5 Diagnostic Criteria, 2019). The patient should
have suffered from depressed mood for maximum time in a day or whole day. Her interests have
diminished in the places and situations that used to get pleasure. She is fed up doing any type of