Why is your geriatric patient whose life seemed fulfilling before retirement now talking about not feeling “right”? “Am I depressed, or is this normal,” your patient wants to know. What should be your reply, and what interventions can you take to help this patient in the context of a 15-minute appointment?
In this video, part of the Mental Health Consult series of roundtable discussions, our panel members discuss their recommendations for work-up and next steps for managing a 65-year-old recently retired man with a history of prostate cancer but no psychiatric disorders. He has some mild depressive symptoms, and he brings up suicide during the office visit.
Join our panel of experts from George Washington University, Washington, including Katalin Roth, MD, director of geriatrics and palliative medicine; April Barbour, MD, director of the division of general internal medicine; and Lorenzo Norris, MD, medical director of psychiatric and behavioral services, as they discuss how to differentiate between the distress often inherent in life passages and mental illness, and how practice models drive treatment decisions and reimbursement.
for a PDF of the case study.
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