A Mental Condition that Leads to Extreme Mood Swings

Marcus, an 18-year-old high school senior, presents with symptoms of difficulty sleeping and feeling sad, which result in an initial diagnosis of depression. His mother later reports, however, that Marcus exhibits symptoms of irritability and risk-taking behaviors. (His little brother reported to his mother that they were driving over 90 miles an hour on the highway.) After further evaluation, Marcus’ psychiatric nurse practitioner diagnoses him with bipolar disorder.

Cases like this are not uncommon with bipolar disorder, as initial assessments rarely provide all the information needed. In your role, as a psychiatric nurse practitioner, you must develop strategies for properly assessing and diagnosing these patients because treatments for bipolar disorder are significantly different than treatments for depression or other mood disorders.

This week, as you examine bipolar therapies, you explore the assessment and treatment of patients with bipolar disorder. You also consider ethical and legal implications of these therapies.

Learning Objectives

Students will:

Assess patient factors and history to develop personalized plans of bipolar therapy for patients

Analyze factors that influence pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamic processes in patients requiring bipolar therapy

Synthesize knowledge of providing care to patients presenting for bipolar therapy

Analyze ethical and legal implications related to prescribing bipolar therapy to patients across the life span

Learning Resources

Required Readings (click to expand/reduce)

Medication Resources (click to expand/reduce)

U.S. Food & Drug Administration. (n.d.). Drugs@FDA: FDA-approved drugs. https://www.accessdata.fda.gov/scripts/cder/daf/index.cfm

Note: To access the following medications, use the Drugs@FDA resource. Type the name of each medication in the keyword search bar. Select the hyperlink related to the medication name you searched. Review the supplements provided and select the package label resource file associated with the medication you searched. If a label is not available, you may need to conduct a general search outside of this resource provided. Be sure to review the label information for each medication as this information will be helpful for your review in preparation for your Assignments.

Review the following medications:

Required Media (click to expand/reduce)

Case Study: An Asian American Woman with Bipolar Disorder 
Note: This case study will serve as the foundation for this week’s Assignment.

Optional Resources (click to expand/reduce)

Assignment: Assessing and Treating Patients With Bipolar Disorder

Bipolar disorder is a unique disorder that causes shifts in mood and energy, which results in depression and mania for patients. Proper diagnosis of this disorder is often a challenge for two reasons: 1) patients often present as depressive or manic but may have both; and 2) many symptoms of bipolar disorder are similar to other disorders. Misdiagnosis is common, making it essential for you to have a deep understanding of the disorder’s pathophysiology. For this Assignment, as you examine the patient case study in this week’s Learning Resources, consider how you might assess and treat patients presenting with bipolar disorder.

To prepare for this Assignment:

Review this week’s Learning Resources, including the Medication Resources indicated for this week.

Reflect on the psychopharmacologic treatments you might recommend for the assessment and treatment of patients requiring bipolar therapy.

The Assignment: 5 pages

Examine Case Study: An Asian American Woman. Diagnosis-Bipolar Disorder. You will be asked to make three decisions concerning the medication to prescribe to this patient. Be sure to consider factors that might impact the patient’s pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamic processes.

At each decision point, you should evaluate all options before selecting your decision and moving

throughout the exercise. Before you make your decision, make sure that you have researched each option and that you evaluate the decision that you will select. Be sure to research each option using the primary literature.

Introduction to the case (1 page)

Briefly explain and summarize the case for this Assignment. Be sure to include the specific patient factors that may impact your decision making when prescribing medication for this patient.

Decision #1 (1 page)

Which decision did you select?

Why did you select this decision? Be specific and support your response with clinically relevant and patient-specific resources, including the primary literature.

Why did you not select the other two options provided in the exercise? Be specific and support your response with clinically relevant and patient-specific resources, including the primary literature.

What were you hoping to achieve by making this decision? Support your response with evidence and references to the Learning Resources (including the primary literature).

Explain how ethical considerations may impact your treatment plan and communication with patients. Be specific and provide examples.

Decision #2 (1 page)

Why did you select this decision? Be specific and support your response with clinically relevant and patient-specific resources, including the primary literature.

Why did you not select the other two options provided in the exercise? Be specific and support your response with clinically relevant and patient-specific resources, including the primary literature.

What were you hoping to achieve by making this decision? Support your response with evidence and references to the Learning Resources (including the primary literature).

Explain how ethical considerations may impact your treatment plan and communication with patients. Be specific and provide examples.

Decision #3 (1 page)

Why did you select this decision? Be specific and support your response with clinically relevant and patient-specific resources, including the primary literature.

Why did you not select the other two options provided in the exercise? Be specific and support your response with clinically relevant and patient-specific resources, including the primary literature.

What were you hoping to achieve by making this decision? Support your response with evidence and references to the Learning Resources (including the primary literature).

Explain how ethical considerations may impact your treatment plan and communication with patients. Be specific and provide examples.

Conclusion (1 page)

Summarize your recommendations on the treatment options you selected for this patient. Be sure to justify your recommendations and support your response with clinically relevant and patient-specific resources, including the primary literature.

Note: Support your rationale with a minimum of five academic resources. While you may use the course text to support your rationale, it will not count toward the resource requirement. You should be utilizing the primary and secondary literature.

Reminder: The College of Nursing requires that all papers submitted include a title page, introduction, summary, and references. The Sample Paper provided at the Walden Writing Center provides an example of those required elements (available at 

https://academicguides.waldenu.edu/writingcenter/templates/general#s-lg-box-20293632). All papers submitted must use this formatting.