Major Depressive Disorder Case Study Essay

1.) Ellen’s symptoms point to a diagnosis of Unspecified Bipolar with atypical features (296.80). Because Ellen’s symptoms are multiple and indicative of several disorders, narrowing it down to one, has proven to be difficult. Therefore to reach an accurate diagnosis, other mood disorders need to be first ruled out. Upon reading Ellen’s case, the first disorder that comes to mind is Persistent Depressive Disorder, PDD, due to her lifelong history of unhappiness, low grade depression, overeating, low energy, and fatigue, poor concentration, and feelings of hopelessness. The DSM V indicates, p168., Part E, “There has never been a manic or hypomanic episode, and criteria has never been met for Cyclothymic disorder” (DSM-V, 2013, p. 168), therefore PPD has been ruled out. Cyclothymia can be ruled out as well. The diagnostic criteria needed for Cyclothymia is the absence of depressive, manic, and hypomanic episodes. Major Depressive Disorder, which is a close possibility, must too be ruled out. While she has several symptoms indicative of MDD, one of the criteria is

Beidel, Frueh, & Herson (2014) report that high stress life events can trigger the recurrence or a relapse in individuals with Bipolar Disorder, BP. According to Beidel, et al (2014), both men and women are equally likely to develop Bipolar I, but women are more likely to develop bipolar II. It is noted that the biological and genetic models regarding the development of bipolar disorder were lacking and as a result more focus has been on the psychosocial factors, which are said to predict the course of the disorder. While there is a high genetic factor in developing the illness, other factors that include several neurotransmitters and their functions have been identified to play a role in the disorder. Particularly Dopamine and Serotonin seem to be the two most associated neurotransmitters involved in mood