Prozac Nation Essay
Prozac Nation
Lizzie (Christina Ricci) is a disturbed soul in the movie. Her affect appears to be dysphoric all the time every day because of the situations that she has to contend with. Her father is not sensitive while her mother is too critical of her. She lapses into depression and has to resort to drugs to mask her symptoms. Soon she becomes dysfunctional in interpersonal relationships and alienates her roommate at the Harvard campus where she stays as a student. She cannot even maintain her relationships and has already broken up with two boyfriends. Her insight and judgment are however intact because she has the presence of mind to seek help from a therapist (Dr. Diana). Prozac Nation Essay
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Out of a personality disorder and major depression, I would diagnose Lizzie with Major Depressive Disorder or MDD. The reason for this is that she meets the diagnostic criteria for MDD as laid out in the DSM-5. For instance she is depressed most of the time almost every day, she has self-esteem issues, she isolates herself as she does “binge” writing, and is dysfunctional in self-care and social spheres (APA, 2013). The fact that she has resorted to drugs to mask her depression is confirmative that it is indeed major depression. This is because the two (substance addiction and MDD) are known to co-occur in the same person. The other confirmatory information that this is MDD is the fact that Dr. Diana prescribed for her fluoxetine (Prozac) which is FDA-approved for the treatment of depression in those 8 years and older (Stahl, 2017). This is instructive.
Lizzie’s plan of care will involve pharmacotherapy as above but also psychotherapy. Both will go hand in hand. As she takes the Prozac, she would also be attending cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) sessions to cognitively restructure her thinking and behavior (Wheeler, 2020). It would be best for her to attend group CBT sessions (group therapy). This is because she will benefit from Dr. Irvin Yalom’s group therapeutic factors. These include altruism, universality, catharsis, and interpersonal learning amongst others.
References
American Psychiatric Association [APA] (2013). Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5), 5th ed. Author.
Stahl, S.M. (2017). Stahl’s essential psychopharmacology: Prescriber’s guide, 6th ed. Cambridge University Press.
Wheeler, K. (2020). Psychotherapy for the advanced practice psychiatric nurse: A how-to guide for evidence-based practice, 3rd ed. Springer Publishing Company, LLC.
