Question

One of your patients, 31 year-old Samual Weiss, is suffering from depression. You confirm your supposition by administering a dexamethasone suppression test. Describe/depict the hypothetical findings obtained using the dexamethasone test that led you to your diagnosis. Then, offer a brief statement on the implications that your results and conclusion have for the etiology (ie. cause) of depression.

Answer 1

Some mental illness like depression has some clear and predictable symptoms which help us to diagnos the actual problem.

Dexamethasone Suppression Test(DTS) was considered as the best and reliable test for measuring depression in 1988.This test basically helps to find the Cushing Symptoms of depression.

Role of the Dexamethasone Suppression Test

Dexamethasone Test helps to findout how much cortisol levels are affeted not only that this test also used to findout how adrenal glands are reacting to the secreation of Adrenocorticotropic Hormon which is also called by ACTH.

When you will take Dexamethasone which is kind of similar to Cortisol, Then according to this test your ACTH level in the blood will reduce, but if after taking Dexamethasone your Cortisol level still higher then it probably a sign of Abnormality like depression, Anxiety and other physiological problems also.

administrering the test

Before taking the test i have told my patient Samual Weiss not to take any kinds of other drugs like birth control pill, Sleeping pills etc. This test has basically two different variations. Both the variation will take minimum three days time. The two variations are High-dose test and Low-Dose test.

Here i have used the High Dose test to measure the cortisol level of my patient Samual Weiss. After giving a high amount of Dexamethasone which was 8 milligrams , i had tested the blood cortisol level through a blood test.

Results of the Test

After examine the cortisol level of the blood i was confirmed that my patient Samual is having high level of cortisol which means she is also having cushing's Syndrome.As because she is having Cushing syndrome so depression is also arising.

Cushing Syndrome and Depression

Depression is the most relevant psychological problem of Cushing Syndrome. According to a study(2007) , 50-70% people with Cushing syndrome also having depression. Some Depressional symptoms was there which also describing my patient Samula was suffering from depression.

• She had lost her emotional stability
• She was having Headache
• She was suffering from Cognitive Difficulty
• She was facing muscle weakness
• Anxiety and irritability was the major problem

Conclusion-

After administrated the Dexamethasone Suppression Test, i have concluded that, My patient Samual Weiss was suffering from depression for having Cushing Syndrome. She got this syndrome because of high cortisol Level in her blood which was also responsible for the secreation of ACTH(Adrenocorticotropic Hormone). High level of ACTH also leads to some mental illness like Depression or anxiety. So after discussing all these factors i have confirmed that my patient was having Depression which was the cause of High Cortisol Level.