🖤 Adolescents with depression may display behavioral and emotional changes that differ from adults.

Key indicators include:

1. Irritability: A common sign of depression in teens, often more noticeable than sadness.
2. Decreased energy: Fatigue and lack of motivation are typical symptoms.
3. Isolation from peers: Withdrawal from social interaction is a red flag.
4. Loneliness: Often accompanies feelings of worthlessness and sadness.

🖤 Euphoria and Grandiosity are more consistent with mania, not depression.

🔍 Somatoform disorder (now referred to as somatic symptom disorder) is characterized by a client repeatedly reporting physical symptoms—such as pain, fatigue, or gastrointestinal issues—without any identifiable medical cause.

These symptoms are real to the client, even in the absence of objective clinical findings.

🔍 Dysthymia is a form of chronic, mild depression.

🔍 Body dysmorphic disorder involves obsessive focus on a perceived physical flaw, not general physical symptoms.

🔍 Major depressive disorder can involve physical complaints, but it is primarily mood-related and diagnosed with broader emotional and functional criteria.

🚩 A headache, palpitations, and neck stiffness in a client recently started on antidepressants—particularly MAOIs—may indicate a hypertensive crisis, a potentially life-threatening emergency often triggered by dietary tyramine or drug interactions. Immediate medical intervention is required to prevent complications such as stroke or organ damage.

🚩 Delaying notification or treating the symptoms without identifying the cause can be dangerous.

🚩 Reassuring the client or giving aspirin ignores the underlying emergency.

💬 Peer relationships play a crucial role in an adolescent’s emotional and social development. Difficulties such as rejection, bullying, isolation, or peer pressure are strongly associated with the development of depression in this age group. Adolescents are especially sensitive to how they are perceived and accepted by their peers.

💬 While parent-teen communication, academics, and teacher interaction matter, peer dynamics are often the most influential social factor in adolescent mental health.

Anorexia nervosa has the highest mortality rate among psychiatric disorders, and death can result from:

1. Electrolyte imbalances: Especially low potassium or sodium levels, which can cause fatal cardiac arrhythmias.
2. Suicide: A significant number of deaths are due to suicide, as depression and hopelessness often co-occur with anorexia.
3. Dehydration: Severe fluid loss can lead to renal failure and cardiovascular collapse.
4. Loss of critical muscle mass: Including cardiac muscle, leading to heart failure.

⚰️ Diabetes is not a typical direct cause of death in anorexia.