Ms. S says she feels anxious and depressed due to her SMAS diagnosis, her mother’s online research and oversharing of poor prognoses, and being isolated from her friends. Most of her time outside the home is spent attending medical appointments with specialists. Several months ago, Ms. S had seen a psychotherapist, but her mother was unhappy with the treatment recommendations, which included seeking care from a nutritionist and joining group therapy. Ms. S’s mother says she ended her daughter’s psychotherapy because she was unable to obtain a signature ruling out anorexia nervosa within the first few appointments.
Ms. S also says she has had passive suicidal thoughts during the past month, usually twice a week. She reports that these thoughts lasted as long as several hours and were difficult to control, but she has no specific plan or intent. Ms. S denies current suicidal thoughts or ideation, and works with the treatment team to complete a safety plan, which she signs. Other than her recent visit to the ED, Ms. S denies any other thoughts or behaviors of self-injury or suicide.
The authors’ observations
The treatment team considered the following conditions as part of Ms. S’s differential diagnosis:
Major depressive disorder. The team was able to rule out MDD because Ms. S’s depression was attributed to SMAS. Ms. S reported that all depressive symptoms were manageable or nonexistent before the onset of pain from SMAS. There was no direct pathophysiological consequence of another medical condition. Ms. S was clear that her symptoms of anxiety and depression began after she was isolated from her friends and began having difficulty understanding her diagnosis and prognosis.
Anorexia nervosa also was ruled out. According to the DSM-5, a diagnosis of anorexia nervosa requires the following 3 criteria1:
- restriction of food intake resulting in significantly low body weight (defined as weight that is less than “minimally normal”) relative to age, gender, or development
- intense fear of gaining weight, or persistent behaviors that interfere with weight gain
- disturbance in the way in which one’s body weight or shape is experienced, undue influence of body weight or shape on self-evaluation, or lack of insight with regard to seriousness of current low body weight.
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