Question

Difficulty: MediumDepressive Disorders

Match each patient's clinical presentation with the most appropriate next step in management or specific therapeutic intervention.

  • An elderly individual in an acute severe depressive episode who is actively refusing food and fluids, presenting with severe dehydration and delusions of guilt.Electroconvulsive therapy
  • A young adult presenting with profound sadness and psychomotor retardation, whose history includes a prior distinct episode of grandiosity, decreased need for sleep, and pressured speech lasting six days.Quetiapine monotherapy
  • A patient with major depressive disorder who has shown only a partial response to an adequate 8-week trial of escitalopram, with persistent residual symptoms of fatigue and low motivation.Augmentation with bupropion
  • A healthy professional with a first-time episode of mild major depressive disorder who explicitly declines the use of any psychotropic medications.Cognitive behavioral therapy

Answer

The clinical presentations map to their respective best management steps: the food-refusing elderly patient requires electroconvulsive therapy; the patient with past mania needs quetiapine monotherapy; the partial SSRI responder with fatigue benefits from bupropion augmentation; and the medication-averse patient should receive cognitive behavioral therapy.
Each matching pair accurately aligns the patient's unique clinical context (e.g., life-threatening symptoms, bipolar history, medication side effect profile, personal preference) with current psychiatric treatment guidelines.

Step-by-Step Solution

1
Evaluate the elderly patient's presentation for life-threatening features.
The patient has severe dehydration and delusions, indicating depression with psychotic features and imminent physical danger.
Immediate, rapid-acting interventions like ECT are necessary when depression threatens the patient's life through starvation or high suicide risk.
2
Analyze the young adult's psychiatric history prior to the depressive episode.
The history of grandiosity, decreased sleep, and pressured speech confirms a past manic episode, diagnosing Bipolar I Disorder.
Recognizing underlying bipolarity is critical to avoid prescribing antidepressant monotherapy, which can precipitate a manic switch.
3
Assess the treatment response of the patient on escitalopram.
The patient has a partial response but persistent fatigue and low motivation.
A partial response warrants augmentation; bupropion targets dopamine and norepinephrine, effectively treating residual fatigue without adding serotonergic side effects.
4
Incorporate the mild depression patient's treatment preferences.
The patient declines medication but needs treatment for an active depressive episode.
Evidence-based psychotherapy like CBT is equal in efficacy to medications for mild-to-moderate depression and honors patient autonomy.

Key Concept

Treatment selection in depressive disorders depends heavily on illness severity, the presence of psychotic or bipolar features, prior treatment responses, and patient preference.
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