Loss of Meaning in the Era of DSM and Psychopharmacology

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To the Editor: When addressing changes in symptom severity in patients with psychiatric disorders, it is important to consider psychosocial stressors before jumping to pharmaceutical interventions. Here, 2 cases are presented to illustrate this point.

Case 1. Ms A is a 54-year-old woman with a DSM-5 diagnosis of recurrent major depressive disorder in remission on fluoxetine 20 mg daily.