RT Book, Section A1 Smith, Mindy A. A1 Usatine, Richard P. A2 Usatine, Richard P. A2 Smith, Mindy A. A2 Mayeaux, Jr., E.J. A2 Chumley, Heidi S. SR Print(0) ID 1164350344 T1 Mental Health T2 The Color Atlas and Synopsis of Family Medicine, 3e YR 2019 FD 2019 PB McGraw-Hill Education PP New York, NY SN 9781259862045 LK dermatology.mhmedical.com/content.aspx?aid=1164350344 RD 2024/10/06 AB A 21-year-old woman is seen by a family physician in a student-run free clinic within a residential chemical dependency program for women. She has just finished withdrawing from intravenous heroin. She is experiencing anxiety and insomnia and is asking for medications to help her sleep at night and function during the day. The young woman has a 10-month-old baby. She had been on a methadone program during her pregnancy. The patient states that her mother is bipolar and often uses various drugs including heroin. Her brother sells heroin but claims to not use it anymore. He does sell heroin to her and her mother at a discount. The patient admits to having been sexually abused as a child and states that the heroin numbs some of the pain from her childhood. Unfortunately, she has bad nightmares (related to posttraumatic stress disorder [PTSD]) that make sleeping difficult. She did return to injecting heroin after the baby was born and lost custody of her child. She is motivated to maintain sobriety so she can be with her baby again. The family physician listens with compassion and empathy and prescribes some non-addicting medications to help her with the anxiety, insomnia, and nightmares. A follow-up appointment is set for the following week, as it is clear that this young woman needs a lot of support in addition to close management of pharmacologic therapy.