Criteria Etc

Question 0

Suicide Risk Factors

Answer 0

SAD PERSONS
Sex (male) 
Age >60 yr old
Depression
Previous attempts
Ethanol abuse
Rational thinking loss (delusions, hallucinations, hopelessness) 
Suicide in family
Organized plan
No spouse (no support systems)
Serious illness, intractable pain

Question 1

Types of delusions

Answer 1

• Persecutory: belief that others are trying to cause harm to you
• Reference: interpreting publicly known events/celebrities as having direct reference to you
• Erotomania: belief that another is in love with you
• Grandiose: an inflated sense of self-worth or power
• Religious: belief of receiving instructions/powers from a higher being; of being a higher being
• Somatic: belief that you have a physical disorder/defect
• Nihilistic: belief that things do not exist; a sense that everything is unreal

Question 2

Pharmacotherapy and Suicide Risk

Answer 2

Once antidepressant therapy is initiated, patients should be followed frequently as there is a “suicide window” in which the patient may still be depressed, but now has enough energy to carry out suicide.

Avoid tricyclic antidepressants (TCAs) because of high lethality in overdose!

Question 3

Suicidal Ideation Assessment

Answer 3

• Asking patients about suicide will not give them the idea or the incentive to commit suicide
• The best predictor of completed suicide is a history of attempted
suicide
• The most common psychiatric disorders associated with completed
suicide are mood disorders and alcohol abuse

Question 4

Differentiating Psychotic Disorders

Answer 4

Disorder – Psychotic Symptoms – Duration
Brief psychotic disorder – ≥1 positive symptoms of criterion A – 6 mo
Schizoaffective disorder – ≥2 wk (with no mood symptoms) – >1 mo
Delusional disorder – Non-bizarre delusions, hallucinations – >1 mo
2º to substance intoxication/withdrawal – Criterion A – During intoxication or ≤1 mo after withdrawal
2º to mood disorder – Delusions/hallucinations (mood congruent) – Unspecified