Assessing and Treating Clients With Anxiety Disorders
Case Study
Examine Case Study: A Middle-Aged Caucasian Man with Anxiety. The client is alert, oriented to person, place, time, and event. He is appropriately dressed. Speech is clear, coherent, and goal-directed. The client’s self-reported mood is “bleh” and he does endorse feeling “nervous”. Affect is somewhat blunted but does brighten several times throughout the clinical interview. Affect broad. Client denies visual or auditory hallucinations, no overt delusional or paranoid thought processes readily apparent. Judgment is grossly intact, as is insight. He denies suicidal or homicidal ideation. The PMHNP administers the Hamilton Anxiety Rating Scale (HAM-A) which yields a score of 26.
Diagnosis: Generalized anxiety disorder. You will be asked to make three decisions concerning the medication to prescribe to this client. Assess client factors and history to develop personalized plans of anxiolytic therapy for clients. Analyze factors that influence pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamic processes in clients requiring anxiolytic therapy. Evaluate efficacy of treatment plans. Analyze ethical and legal implications related to prescribing anxiolytic therapy to clients across the lifespan
At each decision point stop to complete the following for the medication regimen suggested.
Decision #1
Which decision did you select? Zoloft 50 mg orally daily
Why did you select this decision? Support your response with evidence and references to the Learning Resources.
What were you hoping to achieve by making this decision? Support your response with evidence and references to the Learning Resources.
Explain any difference between what you expected to achieve with Decision #1 and the results of the decision. Why were they different?
RESULTS OF DECISION POINT ONE
Client returns to clinic in four weeks
Client informs you that he has no tightness in chest, or shortness of breath
Client states that he noticed decreased worries about work over the past 4 or 5 days
HAM-A score has decreased to 18 (partial response)
Decision #2 Increase Zoloft dose to 75mg orally daily
Why did you select this decision? Support your response with evidence and references to the Learning Resources.
What were you hoping to achieve by making this decision? Support your response with evidence and references to the Learning Resources.
Explain any difference between what you expected to achieve with Decision #2 and the results of the decision. Why were they different?
RESULTS OF DECISION POINT TWO
Client returns to clinic in four weeks
Client reports an even further reduction in his symptoms
HAM-A score has now decreased to 10. At this point- continue current dose (61% reduction in symptoms)
Decision #3 Maintain Zoloft current dose
Why did you select this decision? Support your response with evidence and references to the Learning Resources.
What were you hoping to achieve by making this decision? Support your response with evidence and references to the Learning Resources.
Explain any difference between what you expected to achieve with Decision #3 and the results of the decision. Why were they different?
Also include how ethical considerations might impact your treatment plan and communication with clients.
Guidance Discussion
At this point, it may be appropriate to continue client at the current dose. It is clear that the client is having a good response (as evidenced by greater than a 50% reduction in symptoms) and the client is currently not experiencing any side effects, the current dose can be maintained for 12 weeks to evaluate full effect of drug. Increasing drug at this point may yield a further decrease in symptoms but may also increase the risk of side effects. This is a decision that the PMHNP should discuss with the client. Nothing in the client’s case tells us that we should consider adding an augmentation agent at this point as the client is demonstrating response to the drug. Avoid polypharmacy unless symptoms cannot be managed by a single drug.
