This week you read about Mood Disorders and Suicide. Here, you will be introduce

Question

This week you read about Mood Disorders and Suicide. Here, you will be introduced to Mr. Andrew Quinn, a 60-year old businessman who recently lost his 24 year old son to suicide. For this discussion forum, answer the following questions. Make sure you support your answer by what you have read about Major Depressive Disorder.

What symptoms being exhibited by Mr. Quinn would justify Major Depressive Disorder diagnosis? In your book, Table 1 on page 175 outlines symptoms needed for diagnosis, from A to E. From the case vignette, pull examples from Mr. Quinn to fit the criterion. Your response should have the following:

Section A (List five or more symptoms that Mr. Quinn is exhibiting from the list provided)

Section B (What are the social, occupational, or other types of impairment?)

Section C (medical condition or substance abuse contributing to MDD)

Section D (Another disorder which could explain MDD)

Section E (Presence of manic or hypomanic episode)

What are the contributing factors for his MDD? Take a look at the different theories of depression in your textbook, i.e. biological theory, psychological theory

If you were his therapist, what would be your course of treatment?

How would you answer Mr. Quinn when he asks whether he still had normal grief or had a major depressive disorder?

Andrew Quinn, a 60-year-old businessman, returned to see his longtime psychologist 2 weeks after the death of his 24-year-old son.  The young man, who had struggled with major depression and substance abuse, had been found surrounded by several emptied pill bottles and an incoherent suicide note.

Mr. Quinn had been very close to his troubled son, and he immediately felt crushed, like his life had lost its meaning.  In the ensuing 2 weeks, he had constant images of his son and was “obsessed” with how he might have prevented the substance abuse and suicide.  He worried that he had been a bad father and that he had spent too much time on his own career and too little time with his son. He felt constantly sad, withdrew from his usual social life, and was unable to concentrate on his work. Although he had never previously drunk more than a few glasses of wine per week, he increased his alcohol intake to half a bottle of wine each night.  At that time, his psychologist told him that he was struggling with grief and that such a reaction was normal.  They agreed to meet for support and to assess the ongoing clinical situation.

Mr. Quinn returned to see his psychologist weekly.  By the sixth week after the suicide, his symptoms had worsened.  Instead of thinking about what he might have done differently, he became preoccupied that he should have been the one to die, not his young son.  He continued to have trouble falling asleep, but he also tended to awake at 4:30 a.m. and just stare at the ceiling, feeling overwhelmed with fatigue, sadness and feelings of worthlessness.  These symptoms improved during the day, but he also felt a persistent and uncharacteristic loss of self-confidence, sexual interest and enthusiasm.  He asked his psychologist whether he still had normal grief or had a major depression.

Mr. Quinn had a history of two prior major depressive episodes that improved with psychotherapy and antidepressant medication, but not significant depressive episodes since his 30s.  He denied a history of alcohol or substance abuse.  Both of his parents had been “depressive” but did not receive any form of treatment as far as he knew.  No one in the family had previously committed suicide.

Explanation / Answer

Mr Quinn has shown that he has no sign of addiction and or substance abuse, so there cannot be the contribution of any depressants or stimulants that might be contributing to a Rocky emotional state.

The other signs of MDD that Quinn depicts are mood affecticity, behavior changes which show agitation and social isolation, the other things is the sleep, insomnia, and another is anhedonia, which is loos of pleasure and pleasure seeking behavior.

The social impairment is visible with the obsessive behavior and cognitive fixation on his sons suicide and potential preventive measures.

MDD could also be explained as a potential grieving process that could be confused for MDD.

There are hypo manic episodes as opposed to manic.

His diathesis stress model shows that he had a biological propensity to develop stress due to his parents episodes and the environmental stressor also contributed as the switch to the activation of the former.

The treatment that would work best for Mr. Quinn would be CBT and REBT for the irrational and impaired cognitive process needs to be replaced which is attacking his self confidence and self worth with respect to the kind of father he was to his son.

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