Mood Disorders

A Closer Look at Psychological

Disorders
Mood Disorders
 Mood disorders are disturbances of
emotions that are severe or prolonged
enough to cause impairment of
functioning.
 These conditions are magnifications of our
normal reactions.
 The magnified states in mood disorders are
mania and depression.
 Mania – a period of abnormally high emotion and
activity
 Depression – a period of extreme sadness and
helplessness
Types of Mood Disorders

Mood
Disorders

Major
Dysthymic Bipolar Cyclothymic
Depressive
Disorder Disorder Disorder
Disorder
Major Depressive Disorder (Unipolar
Depression)
 The most common mood disorder, and
one of the more common psychological
disorders in general.
 Everyone gets depressed, so how do
we know when normal depression
crosses the line into major depressive
disorder?
Major Depressive Disorder (cont.)
 A person may be suffering from major
depressive disorder when five of the following
nine symptoms have been present for two or
more weeks:
 Depressed mood most of the day, nearly every day
 Little interest or pleasure in almost all activities
 Significant changes in weight or appetite
 Sleeping more or less than usual
 Agitated or decreased level of activity
 Fatigue or loss of energy
 Feelings of worthlessness or inappropriate guilt
 Diminished ability to think or concentrate
 Recurrent thoughts of death or suicide
Major Depressive Disorder (cont.)
 The symptoms must also produce distress or
impaired functioning to qualify as indicators of
MDD.
 Also, with MDD, there is no apparent reason,
or trigger, for the emotions.
 Major Depressive Disorder (cont.)
 Research suggests that the lifetime prevalence
rate of depression is between 7 and 18%.
 Evidence suggests that the prevalence of
depression is increasing, particularly in more
recent age cohorts, and that it is 2X as high in
women as in men.

Major Depressive Disorder

baseline

normal depression normal depression normal

Dysthymic Disorder
 Dysthymic disorder shares
many of the symptoms of
MDD, but doesn’t quite
have the same
overwhelming feel.
 Sufferers of this disorder
may feel the same
symptoms, but less Dysthymic Disorder
intensely and for a longer
period (at least 2 years). baseline
 They rarely require
hospitalization.
normal dysthymia normal dysthymia
Bipolar Disorder
 People with bipolar disorder also
experience the oppressive down
periods of MDD; however, these
periods alternate with manic
episodes in which the person is
unrealistically optimistic and displays
wildly hyper behavior.
 During mania, a person may go long
periods without sleeping, experience
changeable, racing thoughts, be easily
distracted, and set impossible goals.
 Mania is sometimes also associated with
bouts of creative energy.
 Bipolar disorder affects a little over
1%-2% of the population and is
equally as common in males and
females.
The Depressed Brain
 PET scans show that brain energy consumption
rises and falls with manic and depressive episodes.

Courtesy of Lewis Baxter an Michael E.

Phelps, UCLA School of Medicine
Victims of Bipolar Disorder?
 No one knows for sure, but some people
suspect that Vincent van Gogh was bipolar.
 His life alternated between periods of blazing
creativity – sometimes he finished more than a
painting a day – and periods of deep depression.
He committed suicide in 1890.
 The world's most famous nurse, Florence
Nightingale, is believed to have suffered
from a bipolar disorder that caused long
periods of depression and remarkable
bursts of productivity.
 Bipolar I vs. Bipolar II Disorder
 Bipolar I Disorder
 Manic Episodes, plus:
 Usually with at least one Depressive
Episode

 Bipolar II Disorder
 Depressive Episodes, plus: Hypomanic: Same criteria for mania,
 At least 1 Hypomanic Episode except:
– Lasts at least 4 days
– Not severe enough to cause
impairment in functioning, no
hospitalization needed, no
psychotic features… although
there is a clear change in
behavior or functioning that is
not the person’s “normal” and is
noticeable to others 
Cyclothymic Disorder
 Cyclothymia is
basically borderline
bipolar disorder
(milder than bipolar) Hypomanic: Same criteria for mania, except:
– Lasts at least 4 days
 Includes – Not severe enough to cause
impairment in functioning, no
 Hypomanic symptoms hospitalization needed, no psychotic
(not full mania), plus: features… although there is a clear
change in behavior or functioning that is
 Depressive symptoms not the person’s “normal” and is
noticeable to others 
(not full depression)
 Lasts for at least 2
years
 Bipolar I Disorder

Recap of Mood baseline

Disorders
normal mania normal depression normal
Major Depressive Disorder
Bipolar II Disorder

baseline
baseline

normal depression normal depression normal

normal hypomania normal depression hypomania

Dysthymic Disorder
Cyclothymic Disorder

baseline baseline

normal hypomania minor depression hypomania

normal dysthymia normal dysthymia
Other Types of “Depressions”
 Seasonal Affective Disorder
 Double Depression (Dysthymia + Major
Depression)
 Post-partum depression
Etiology of Mood
Disorders
Possible Causes
What causes mood disorders?
 Again, biology and environment interact
as possible contributors to mood
disorders.
 Stress also seems to play a role,
providing a trigger that sparks mood
disorders when other factors are present.
Biomedical Approach
 Heredity – twin studies show that many mood
disorders run in families. The rate of depression
is higher in identical (50%) than fraternal twins
(20%).
 Brain function – Depressed people have
depressed brains. Brain scans indicate that the
brain is less active during major depression.
 Also, certain neurotransmitters (serotonin and
norepinephrine) are lacking during times of
depression.
 Prozac and other antidepressant medications help
restore proper levels of these neurotransmitters.
 Social-Cognitive Approach
 Attributions – When things go wrong,
we try to explain them. Depressed
people are likely to believe the
following explanations (attributions):
 Stable – The bad situation will last for a
long time
 Internal – This happened because of my
actions, not someone else’s, and not
because of the circumstances
 Global – My explanation applies to many
areas of my life
Social-Cognitive Factors (cont.)
 Learned helplessness – People develop a
sense of helplessness when subjected to events
over which they have little or no control. As they
acquire this feeling of helplessness, they give up
and no longer try to improve their situation,
because they learned in the past that efforts to
improve the situation will not work. This, by
itself, can produce depression.
 Learned helplessness may also explain why
women suffer higher rates of depression than
men do. Women are more likely to be abused
and twice as likely to feel overwhelmed. This
may explain women’s higher levels of learned
helplessness and depression.
Social-Cognitive Perspective
The social-cognitive perspective suggests that
depression arises partly from self-defeating
beliefs and negative explanatory styles.
Humanistic Approach
 Not enough life meaning
 Not enough authentic choices that lead to
self-fulfillment
 Connection of personal identity to others’
evaluation of ourselves, or to certain
events (e.g., role at work), so that when
these persons or events leave, there is
loss and depression
 Obstacles to self-actualization path  
Behavioral Approach
 Few rewards in life, many punishments
 Interactional theory (James Coyne)
 Person acts depressed, which makes others
annoyed or stressed by person, which makes
others less likely to provide positive
reinforcement and rewards to person, which
makes person depressed…
 Interpersonal inadequacies and poor social
skills may lead to a scarceness of life’s
reinforcers and frequent rejection.
Sociocultural Approach
 Cultural differences in symptom expression
 Different rates among different groups
 Higher rates among women
 Higher rates among single, divorced people
 Lower rates with social support
 Higher rates for younger adults
 Higher rates for lower socioeconomic status 
Psychodynamic Approach
 Parents fail to nurture person or they provide excessive
gratification of needs
 Actual or symbolic loss of the parent or loved one
 Regression to oral stage
 Introjection of loved one (Introjection – The process of
incorporating the characteristics of a person or object
unconsciously into one's psyche, often as a defense
mechanism)
 Angry feelings towards loved one  guilt + self-hatred 
 Shifting dominance between superego (guilt and
worthlessness) and ego (asserts its strength and is
elated and self-confident).