Question 3: A client was admitted for depression. What should the nurse explain to the client regarding the ro

Question 3: A client was admitted for depression. What should the nurse explain to the client regarding the role of serotonin and depression?

Sarah,
I think you need to be doing your own homework. Grab your med-surg book, lecture notes, etc. and study hard. You could always form a study group if you are wanting to bounce ideas and solutions off each other.
If you don't learn the material, a patient will eventually pay the price.

I think some folks are confusing serotonin with SSRI medications (Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitors), a class of antidepressants that includes Zoloft.
Well, the usefulness of discussing serotonin, a neurotransmitter, is to move the client from self blame to a medical model of depression. If the client is able to see that depression is a medical disorder that is caused by too little seratonin in the brain (just like diabetes is to little insulin in the blood), the client may be more willing to get treatment and feel less stigmatized.
A nurse could mention offhand, in a humourous way, that depression is a medical condition, explain the seratonin thing, and give the diabetes analogy in order to make the patient feel more at ease with being in the hospital.

It is typically not the first thing addressed. The client is going to want/need to develop a rapport with the person providing treatment. The client, more than likely is not going to want to hear the science behind it, but rather look for someone who will listen. Depression not only has physiological causes, but environmental are also possible.

Just because SSRI's allow your brain to bathe in more serotonin and you feel better DOES NOT mean that you were low on serotonin to begin with. I am pretty sure that is disproven, that low levels of serotonin are a cause of depression. It just feels better to have more. You better google your own research on this, I think some of these answers are wrong.

Seratonin is a neurotransmitter in the brain that is linked to an individual's mood.

Depending on the genetic make-up of someone's brain, these neurotransmitters can be blocked or prevented from flowing "freely" to balance mood.

Anti-depressants release more neurotransmitters and prevent them from being blocked which is said to raise mood, thus decreasing a depressed mood state.

She should be very simple about it. Basically, state how different chemicals in the brain affect function and mood, state that low serotonin levels can cause depression and anxiety, and how medication affects the imbalance of serotonin.

Lower than average levels of the neurotransmitter seratonin in the brain are often responsible for clinical depression and are typically treated simply by taking an SSRI. Testing is not effective because seratonin levels can be so variable between individuals.

Please do your own homework. If you are training for the medical field, what do you expect to do when working - dart off to poll Dr Internet? Grow up and get some integrity.

i don't think they should rush into giving medicines
but take blood work and check if the body is deficient of anything
check for allergies, etc.
get to the root of the problem first

That it is good that they are here for help and that you will get all the help you need to feel better.

not a nurse

i would think that would be the doctors job