Question Of The Day: Mood, Adjustment, and Dementia Disorders

Q. A client was hospitalized for 1 week with major depression with suicidal ideation. He is taking venlafaxine (Effexor), 75 mg three times a day, and is planning to return to work. The nurse asks the client if he is experiencing thoughts of self-harm. The client responds, "I hardly think about it anymore and wouldn't do anything to hurt myself." The nurse should make which judgment about the client?

A. The client is decompensating and in need of being readmitted to the hospital.
B. The client needs an adjustment or increase in his dose of antidepressant.
C. The depression is improving and the suicidal ideation is lessening.
D. The presence of suicidal ideation warrants a telephone call to the client's primary care provider.

Correct Answer: C
Explanation: The client's statements about being in control of his behavior and his or her plans to return to work indicate an improvement in depression and that suicidal ideation, although present, is decreasing. Nothing in his comments or behavior indicate he is decompensating. There is no evidence to support an increase or adjustment in the dose of Effexor or a call to the primary care provider. Typically, the cognitive components of depression are the last symptoms eliminated. For the client to be experiencing some suicidal ideation in the second week of psychopharmacologic treatment is not unusual.