Lesson+4

Read the descriptions of mood disorders below, and then proceed to the opening activity. Introductory activity
 * || Below is a description of mood disorders. These are extremely common in society.

//Mood (Affective) Disorders//
 * Lesson 4**

I. Mood disorders in general

A. This category of mental disorders has significant and chronic disruption in mood as the predominant symptom. This causes impaired cognitive, behavioral, and physical function-ing. B. Mood disorders are differentiated from normal moods on the basis of duration, intensity, and absence of cause. For example, two weeks of continued symptoms with high levels of intensity and with no precipitating cause indicates a major depressive episode. C. Prevalence of mood disorders

1. Mood disorders are among the most common of all psychological disorders, affecting about 12 million Americans in any given year. 2. Mood disorders are more common in women than in men. 3. The greatest risk of developing major depression occurs between the ages of 15- 24 and 35-44. 4. Episodes recur in one half of all cases and last at least two weeks.

II. Major depression

A. Emotional symptoms involve feelings of sadness, hopelessness, and guilt. They also involve feeling emotionally disconnected from other people. B. Behavioral symptoms include a dejected, unsmiling, downcast demeanor; slowed movements and speech; tearfulness and spontaneous crying; and a loss of interest or pleasure in one’s usual activities, including sex and eating. C. Cognitive symptoms involve difficulty thinking, concentrating, and remembering; global negativity and pessimism; and suicidal thoughts or preoccupation with death. D. Physical symptoms include changes in appetite resulting in weight gain or loss; constipation; sleep disturbances, such as insomnia, oversleeping, or early waking; chronic, vague aches and pains; and loss of energy, or restless, fidgety activity.

III. Other depressed mood disorders

A. Dysthymic disorder involves chronic, low-grade feelings of depression that produce subjective discomfort but, unlike major depression, does not seriously impair one’s ability to function. B. Seasonal affective disorder (SAD) involves episodes of depression which typically recur in fall and winter and remit during spring and summer.

IV. Bipolar disorder is characterized by alternating episodes of major depression and mania.

A. Characteristics of mania include

1. Emotional symptoms, such as euphoria, expansiveness, and excitement (feeling "on top of the world"). 2. Behavioral symptoms, such as out-of-character energy or activity, frenzied, disorganized goal-directed activity, rapid-fire speech, spending sprees and illegal acts, and severely disrupted sleep patterns often resulting in little or no sleep over a number of days. 3. Cognitive symptoms, such as wildly inflated self-esteem, grandiosity (sometimes involving delusional beliefs), easy distractibility leading to a flight of ideas in which thoughts rapidly and loosely shift, irritability, and verbal abusiveness if grandiose ideas are questioned.

B. Prevalence and course

1. Annually about 2 million Americans suffer from bipolar disorder. 2. Onset typically occurs in the early twenties. 3. The disorder affects men and women at the same rate. 4. It is a recurring, chronic disorder that generally responds favorably to drug therapy.

C. Cyclothymic disorder, a milder, but chronic form of bipolar disorder, involves moderate but frequent mood swings. People with the disorder are perceived as extremely moody, unpredictable, and inconsistent.

V. Explaining affective disorders

A. The biopsychological perspective

1. Family, twin, and adoption studies indicate that some people inherit a genetic predisposition for mood disorders. 2. Indirect evidence indicates that two neurotransmitters, seratonin and norepinephrine, are implicated in major depression.

a) Symptoms of major depression are alleviated in about 80% of people for whom antidepressant medication is prescribed. These medications increase the availability of seratonin and norepinephrine in the brain. b) Continued use of antidepressants can prevent recurrences of major depression.

B. The behavioral perspective stresses the role of reinforcement.

1. Depressed people may lack the social skills needed to gain normal social reinforcement from others. 2. Thus, a vicious cycle develops in which reduced social reinforcement leads to depression, and depressed behavior further reduces social reinforcement.

C. The cognitive perspective stresses that the way people think can result in depression.

1. Perfectionists set themselves up for depression through irrational self-demands they may not be able to meet. 2. Paying attention to negative information, being highly self-critical, being pessimistic about the future, and focusing on the cause of the negative mood all contribute to depression. 3. Making attributions that are internal ("it’s all my fault"), stable ("nothing can change to improve the situation") and global ("it is a major, all-encompassing problem") may cause depression.

D. The biopsychosocial perspective recognizes the roles played by an individual’s biochemistry, behavior and mood (along with environmental stress factors), thus acknowledging that depression is an ailing mind in an ailing body. It also acknowledges that altering any one of the components of the chemistry-cognition-mood circuit can affect the others. ||