Approach to Treatment Response Paper

Approach to Treatment Response Paper
List three questions you might ask the patient if she were in your office. Provide a rationale for why you might ask these questions.
The three questions I would ask the patient, including their rationale, are as follows:
1 Have you felt down, hopeless, or depressed within the previous month? This question is important because people who have lost their loved ones are at a heightened risk of developing depression. Insomnia is one of the clinical manifestations of depression. If the client responds positively to this question, it is important also to evaluate the risk of suicide, although the client had previously denied suicidal ideation.
2 Do you normally take caffeinated beverages, especially coffee? This question is important because caffeine consumption, if not wisely regulated, can lead to sleep deprivation and subsequent performance deficits. Caffeine consumption during the day causes reduced 6-sulfatoxymelatonin on the subsequent night, which constitutes one of the primary mechanisms via which an individual sleep pattern is interrupted, leading to insomnia (O’Callaghan et al., 2018).
3 How many hours do you sleep every night on average? Research indicates that sleep deprivation significantly augments an individual’s vulnerability to unpleasant memories intruding into their mind or conscious awareness, especially when confronting reminders (Harrington et al., 2021). In this way, failure to have enough sleep can cause an individual to worry about their previous negative experiences, leading to fear and inability to sleep.
Identify people in the patient’s life you would need to speak to or get feedback from to further assess the patient’s situation. Include specific questions you might ask these people and why.
Getting sufficient information regarding the patient’s family history and educational attainment is important. In this way, I would consider reaching out to the patient’s family members, caretakers, or friends to get more information concerning her routine activities and related issues that could undermine her overall health outcomes. Most preferably, I would consider individuals who knew the patient even before the demise of her husband. I would ask the following questions based on the provided rationales.
1 Does the patient have adequate social support systems? There is a significant positive correlation between different types of social support (e.g., financial, structural, social, and emotional) with anxiety and depression (Pourtaghi et al., 2019).
2 Have you noticed any mood changes or interest in doing things she previously enjoyed? Individuals with clinical depression (major depressive disorder) show a loss of interest in things they previously enjoyed doing, including showing persistent sadness feelings (Harrington et al., 2021).
Physical exams and diagnostics tests for the patient
Based on the case scenario, documenting the patient’s sleeping patterns is vital. This way, diagnostic tests such as sleep diary, polysomnography, and actigraphy would be significant. Hertenstein et al. (2019) argue that lipid profile tests and a linkage of thyroid function tests would also be crucial to assess other metaboli...