Ms. Z, a 28-year old store manager comes to the outpatient clinic complaining of feeling extremely sad after her 6-month relationship came to an end about a month ago. She states that she was encouraged by her employer to seek psychiatric therapy even though she has not done this before. Ms. Z admits that she has showed up to work late a few times because of oversleeping and that she spends her weekends in bed, refusing to answer her friend’s calls. She states that she finds it difficult to focus and has even broken into tears in front of customers. She also states that she finds it difficult to walk because sometimes her legs are too heavy. Her symptoms have made her worry that she may be suffering from a serious medical condition. She feels guilty about the possibility that she might not be good enough for marriage. When she spoke about her nephew and her plans to visit a friend in the summer, she brightens up. She has not experienced any suicidal ideations.
Generate a primary and two differential diagnoses. Use the DSM5 to support the assessment. Include the DSM5 and ICD 10 codes.
The primary diagnosis, based on the symptoms the patient is experiencing, would be Major Depressive Disorder, Single Episode, mild. The differential diagnosis would be Adjustment Disorder with depressed mood and Dysthymic Disorder.
Discuss a pharmacological treatment would you prescribe? Use the clinical guidelines to support the rationale for this treatment.
The pharmacological treatment I would recommend for Major Depressive Disorder would be antidepressant medication. The antidepressants would correct the patient’s imbalances in neurotransmitters such as norepinephrine and serotonin (Ebert et al., 2019; Preston
