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Week Eight: A Puerto Rican Woman with Comorbid Addiction
Name………………………
Psychopharmacological Approaches for the Treatment of
Psychopathology Walden University
Abstract
The purpose of this paper is to document my decisions in the treatment of a Puerto Rican woman
with comorbid addiction. Throughout three outpatient visits, I will describe decisions about
medications used in her treatment and include factors that might impact the client’s
pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamic processes. I will also consider any ethical aspects of this
case study. These decisions will be supported by at least three separate references from recent
research and high-level evidence.
Mrs. Maria Perez is a 53-year-old Puerto Rican female who presents to the office today
due to gambling and an alcohol use disorder. She began using alcohol in her teens after her
father’s death and has been involved with Alcoholics Anonymous on and off since that time. As
an adult, she has begun gambling as well and has taken 50,000 dollars from her retirement
account to cover her debts without her husband’s knowledge. Although she describes her mood
as sad, she does not have symptoms of major depression or other psychiatric disorders.
Decision One
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The three medications to choose from are Naltrexone IM, Antabuse PO, or Campral PO.
The Naltrexone is IM and has the easiest dosing regimen. Campral will also assist with
compulsive behavior or cravings but has a more complex dosage, requiring the patient to take
medications three times a day. Even if the patient is very desperate to take the medication as
prescribed and overcome some of the problems from her addictions, it is a difficult regimen. I
find it difficult to take medication twice a day, three times a day is almost impossible,
especially on days that I work. I am leaning toward the IM Naltrexone. I need to make sure it is
the most effective of the three so that I can give my patient the best information available upon
which to base a decision. She may have a problem with needles, as I do. She may do very well
with a TID schedule out of a desire to avoid injection. Antabuse will cause adverse reactions to
the intake of alcohol creating an adversion rather than the inhibiting the impulse to drink.
Pathological gambling (PG) is a relatively common and often disabling psychiatric
condition characterized by intrusive urges to engage in harmful gambling behavior. Although
common and financially devastating to individuals and families, there currently exist no formally
approved pharmacotherapeutic interventions for this disorder[Gra14].
P a g e 2 | 11
Week Eight: A Puerto Rican Woman with Comorbid Addiction
Name………………………
Psychopharmacological Approaches for the Treatment of
Psychopathology Walden University
Abstract
The purpose of this paper is to document my decisions in the treatment of a Puerto Rican woman
with comorbid addiction. Throughout three outpatient visits, I will describe decisions about
medications used in her treatment and include factors that might impact the client’s
pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamic processes. I will also consider any ethical aspects of this
case study. These decisions will be supported by at least three separate references from recent
research and high-level evidence.
Mrs. Maria Perez is a 53-year-old Puerto Rican female who presents to the office today
due to gambling and an alcohol use disorder. She began using alcohol in her teens after her
father’s death and has been involved with Alcoholics Anonymous on and off since that time. As
an adult, she has begun gambling as well and has taken 50,000 dollars from her retirement
account to cover her debts without her husband’s knowledge. Although she describes her mood
as sad, she does not have symptoms of major depression or other psychiatric disorders.
Decision One
P a g e 1 | 11
, 2
The three medications to choose from are Naltrexone IM, Antabuse PO, or Campral PO.
The Naltrexone is IM and has the easiest dosing regimen. Campral will also assist with
compulsive behavior or cravings but has a more complex dosage, requiring the patient to take
medications three times a day. Even if the patient is very desperate to take the medication as
prescribed and overcome some of the problems from her addictions, it is a difficult regimen. I
find it difficult to take medication twice a day, three times a day is almost impossible,
especially on days that I work. I am leaning toward the IM Naltrexone. I need to make sure it is
the most effective of the three so that I can give my patient the best information available upon
which to base a decision. She may have a problem with needles, as I do. She may do very well
with a TID schedule out of a desire to avoid injection. Antabuse will cause adverse reactions to
the intake of alcohol creating an adversion rather than the inhibiting the impulse to drink.
Pathological gambling (PG) is a relatively common and often disabling psychiatric
condition characterized by intrusive urges to engage in harmful gambling behavior. Although
common and financially devastating to individuals and families, there currently exist no formally
approved pharmacotherapeutic interventions for this disorder[Gra14].
P a g e 2 | 11
