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Chitranjjan National Cancer Institute Kolkata - 2021
Mental Health Nursing
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Mr. Sharma developed features of depression after his divorce. Here divorce is considered as?

Appeared in: Chitranjjan National Cancer Institute Kolkata - 2021

Explanation

  • A precipitating factor is defined as a specific event or trigger that occurs shortly before the onset of a disorder.
  • In this scenario, the divorce is the acute psychosocial stressor that induced Mr. Sharma's depressive episode.
  • Other examples of precipitating factors include job loss, bereavement, or a serious medical diagnosis.
  • The key differentiator is the timing; precipitating factors are immediate triggers, unlike long-term predisposing factors or ongoing perpetuating factors.

Why Other Options Were Wrong

  • Option B: A perpetuating factor is something that maintains or worsens an existing illness, not what causes its initial onset. For example, if Mr. Sharma started isolating himself or using alcohol after becoming depressed, those would be perpetuating factors.
  • Option C: A predisposing factor is a long-standing vulnerability that makes an individual more susceptible to developing a disorder. It does not trigger the onset. Divorce is an event, not an underlying vulnerability.
  • Option D: A personality factor refers to enduring traits or characteristics of an individual's personality (e.g., being highly anxious or pessimistic) that might increase their risk. While personality can be a predisposing factor, the divorce itself is an external event, not an internal personality trait.

Related Visual

Visual explanation — Related Visual
Clinical Relevance
  • Nursing practice connection: This is primarily an exam-oriented knowledge point with limited direct bedside application, so retain Biopsychosocial model of mental illness and classification of etiological factors as background academic context rather than a clinical decision trigger.
  • Nurses use the 4 Ps framework to conduct a comprehensive psychiatric assessment. Identifying each type of factor helps in developing a holistic and individualized nursing care plan.
  • Recognizing a precipitating event like divorce allows the nurse to focus on immediate crisis intervention, grief counseling, and mobilizing social support to mitigate the acute distress.
  • What if Mr. Sharma had a family history of depression and was also unemployed? In that case, the family history would be a predisposing factor, unemployment could be both a predisposing and perpetuating factor, and the divorce would remain the primary precipitating factor for the current episode.
How to Approach the Question
  • First, analyze the question to identify the core components: a person (Mr. Sharma), an event (divorce), and a resulting condition (depression).
  • Focus on the temporal relationship described: the depression developed 'after' the divorce.
  • Recall the definitions of the different types of etiological factors in psychiatry: predisposing, precipitating, and perpetuating.
  • Evaluate the event (divorce) against these definitions. A divorce is an acute, stressful life event that triggers the onset of an illness.
  • This matches the definition of a 'precipitating factor.'
  • Eliminate the other options: 'predisposing' refers to underlying vulnerability, 'perpetuating' refers to factors that maintain the illness, and 'personality' is a trait, not an event.
Concept Tested & Keywords
  • Concept Tested: Biopsychosocial model of mental illness and classification of etiological factors.
  • Stem keywords: depression, divorce
  • Lead-in keywords: considered as
  • Clinical cues: The development of depression 'after' the divorce is a key clinical cue, indicating a temporal relationship between the event and the symptoms.

Question ID

QUghJasnQ91jGakQD1s4fc

Reference Book

E6 Guide to Mental Health & PSYCHIATRIC NURSING R Sreevani— Part 1 (pp 26-289 of 579) p. 45-47

E6 Robert Boland, Marcia L. Verduin - Kaplan and Sadock's Comprehensive Text of Psychiatry-Wolters Kluwer Health (2024) (pp 1-16525 of 16525) p. 7804-7806

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