Mood Disorders

What are mood disorders?

Mood Disorders (aka affective disorders) – psychological disorders characterized by emotional extremes.

Major Depressive Disorder (unipolar disorder)

A mood disorder in which a person experiences two or more weeks of depressed moods, feelings of worthlessness, and diminished interest in pleasure for no apparent reason.

The feeling of depression – “Combine the anguish of grief with the sluggishness of jet lag” (Myers)

Depression is referred to as the common cold of all psychological disorders

Major depression is the most common mood disorder.

Major Depressive Disorder (unipolar disorder) DSM criterion for major depression

Episode must last 2 weeks or longer Depressed, hopeless, discouraged mood Loss of interest in pleasure Change in appetite Insomnia/hypersomnia Psychomotor changes – ex. agitation and retardation of

movement and/or thinking Decreased energy levels Sense of worthlessness Impaired ability to think Frequent thoughts of death Interference in social and/or occupational functioning Episode is not due to medication

Major Depressive Disorder (unipolar disorder)

Major Depressive Disorder occurs in 17% of the North American and European populations at some point in their lives

Women are at a much greater risk of developing Major Depression than men. (2X)

Major Depressive Disorder Videos

What is Depression? ] If you really knew me

Bipolar Disorder (Formerly called manic-depressive disorder)

A mood disorder in which a person alternates between the hopelessness and lethargy of depression and the overexcited state of mania. Manic episode – a euphoric, hyperactive,

wildly optimistic state. Person requires little sleep, speech is loud and person is hard to interrupt. Person may make irrational decisions during the manic episode. Manic episode can be used efficiently and fuel

creativity Mood plunges into a depression

Occurs in about 1-3% of the US Population in men and women equally

Bi-Polar Disorder Videos

What is Bipolar Disorder? Bipolar Disorder-A Documentary My personal experience with Bipolar Disorder

Seasonal Affective Disorder

Some people experience Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD) Only depressed during a particular season,

usually winter SAD is treated with light therapy S.A.D. (Seasonal Affective Disorder) -

YouTube

Dysthymic Disorder

Dysthymic Disorder – A mood disorder involving a pattern of comparatively mild depression that lasts for at least two years

Causes of Mood Disorders

Psychoanalytic Perspective Behaviorist Perspective Biological Perspective Social-cognitive perspective

Causes of Mood Disorders

Psychoanalytic Perspective Depression is a product of repressed anger or an

overly punitive superego

Behaviorist Perspective Mood disorders display a need for/ existence of

reinforcement (attention or sympathy)

Causes of Mood Disorders

Biological Perspective Low levels of serotonin or norepinephrine are

linked to depression Norepinephrine is abundant during mania and scarce

during depression. More receptors for acetylcholine is associated

with bipolar disorder Mood disorders are more likely to occur is those

with reduced development in the frontal lobe, hippocampus, or the amygdala

Major depression and bipolar disorders tend to run in families (this may indicate some genetic cause)

Causes of Mood Disorders

Social-cognitive perspective Negative thoughts feed negative moods and Negative

moods feed negative thoughts Martin Seligman (positive psychology) – learned

helplessness. (Dogs strapped in harness study) View that the future is out of your control and result to

depression when undesirable things occur Depression is growing due to the individualism encouraged

by our western culture.