Alongside a loss of appetite, the 16-year-old Salena is also experiencing weight loss because she is not eating enough food to sustain her body. She reports having difficulty concentrating in class. Salena also recently quit her part-time job with her grades gradually going down in school and her class attendance has been poor in recent times. A loss of appetite can either be psychological or physical (Kovacs, Valentin, & Nielsen, 2017). It is normally temporary due to causes such as digestive problems or infections, in which case appetite will be restored when a person has fully recovered. However, for Salena’s case, the cause for these symptoms could be psychological because her mother reported that she was always irritable and difficult at home, something that had continued for the past 3 months. Also, Salena had no history of suffering from any medical illness.
Psychological aspects and mental health disorders can have a major effect on an individual's appetite which may further lead to weight loss. They can include, anxiety, grief, or depression (Parker & Ricciardi, 2019). To help Salena overcome such depression, therefore, it would be imperative for the mother to help generate a low-stress surrounding. Forming a consistent schedule may help someone with depression feel more in control. Also, offering to create a program for medication, physical exercise, meals, and sleep, and help manage domestic chores will be helpful in managing the condition. After which Salena’s mother should be patient to start observing changes. This is because depression signs do get better with treatment but after a while (Weintraub, de Loo Van, Gitlin, & Miklowitz, 2017). Getting the best treatment may entail trying more than one type of medication approach. For some individuals, symptoms rapidly advance after beginning treatment while for others, it will last longer.
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References
Kovacs, Z., Valentin, J. B., & Nielsen, R. E. (2017). Risk of psychiatric disorders, self ‐ harm behavior and service use associated with bariatric surgery. Acta Psychiatrica Scandinavica , 135 (2), 149-158.
Parker, G., & Ricciardi, T. (2019). The Risk of Suicide and Self-Harm in Adolescents Is Influenced by the “Type” of Mood Disorder. The Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease , 207 (1), 1-5.
Weintraub, M. J., Loo, M. M., Gitlin, M. J., & Miklowitz, D. J. (2017). Self-Harm, Affective Traits, and Psychosocial Functioning in Adults With Depressive and Bipolar Disorders. The Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease, 205 (11), 896-899. doi:10.1097/nmd.0000000000000744
