Marion Weeks Jenks High School

 This category of mental disorders has significant and chronic disruption in mood as the predominant symptom.  This causes impaired cognitive, behavioral, and physical functioning.  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.

 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 and  4. Episodes recur in one half of all cases and last at least two weeks.

 Most common is depression.  Depression is the number 1 reason people seek mental health services.  Mild depression (as we all experience occasionally) is adaptive – when times are tough, depression slows us down, avoids attracting predators, forces us to reassess our lives, and evokes support.  Depression is considered a mental illness when it ceases to be adaptive -- when the behavior interferes with our survival.

 Depression tends to be self-sustaining  Women are twice as likely to report depression than men.  Stressful events often precede depression  Rates of depression have increased with each generation (not just in America)

 Depression strikes at younger age now than in previous generations (not just in America)  Indication is that increase is real, and not just that people are more likely to report depression than before.  Young adults (18-24) are at the highest risk for developing depression, particularly those who have been depressed before.  Ironically, few people commit suicide in the midst of depression because they lack initiative and energy.  Suicide risk is highest when people first start to recover.

 Emotional symptoms involve feelings of sadness, hopelessness, and guilt. They also involve feeling emotionally disconnected from other people.  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.  Cognitive symptoms involve difficulty thinking, concentrating, and remembering; global negativity and pessimism; and suicidal thoughts or preoccupation with death.  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.

 Signs of depression (feelings of worthlessness, loss of interest in family, friends, and activities, lethargy, change in eating patterns, thoughts of death, inability to concentrate, sense of hopelessness, dissatisfaction with your life) last 2 weeks or more.  Usually goes away (even without treatment, although treatment can speed up recovery) in under 6 months

 Dysthymic disorder ◦ A long-term, low-level depression; not debilitating ◦ Characterized by low self-esteem and a sense of hopeless all day almost every day for at least two years. ◦ People with dysthymia may also experience low energy, indecisiveness, insomnia or excessive sleeping, and a change in appetite. ◦ Involves chronic, low-grade feelings of depression that produce subjective discomfort but, unlike major depression, does not seriously impair one's ability to function.

 Alternating episodes of major depression and mania.  Behaviors associated with manic episode – excessively talkative, over reactive, elated, irritable, little need for sleep, often say their minds are “racing” and jump around from subject to subject when talking, easily distracted, fewer sexual inhibitions.  VERY high self-esteem and optimism leads to poor judgment (spending a lot of money on a shopping spree, taking unnecessary risks)

 Occurs in less than 1% of population  Occasionally associated with psychosis (such as hallucinations and delusions); severe forms like these are occasionally misdiagnosed as schizophrenia

 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.

 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.

 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.

 Biological Perspective  Mood disorders run in families  Twins studies indicate genetic influence on the disease  Decreased levels of norepinephrine, serotonin, and dopamine are all associated with depression  Drugs that alleviate mania reduce norepinephrine levels  Drugs that alleviate depression increase levels of one or all three ◦ “tricyclic” – class of antidepressants that increase levels of all 3 ◦ “SSRI’s” – (selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors) increase serotonin specifically (Prozac, Zoloft, Paxil)  Physical exercise (which reduces depression) increases serotonin levels  Frontal lobe activity is decreased in depressed patients and increased in manic patients

 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.

 Social-Cognitive Perspective ◦ Depression causes negative thinking AND negative thinking causes depression. ◦ Stress that the way people think can result in depression. ◦ Perfectionists set themselves up for depression through irrational self-demands they may not be able to meet. ◦ 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.

 Self-defeating beliefs (we believe were are worthless, we begin to act like we are worthless)  May arise from learned helplessness  Attributions ◦ Depressed people are more likely to explain bad events in terms that are stable (it’s going to last forever”, global (it affects everything), and internal (its my fault). ◦ Depression is less common is collectivist cultures – maybe because of social supports or maybe because people are less likely to feel individually responsible for bad events

 Mood-congruent memory  Negative mood causes negative thoughts ◦ Interesting experiment ◦ After losing their basketball game fans were more likely (than after a win)to predict not only that the team would fair poorly in future games, but also that they would fair poorly at several tasks (throwing darts, solving puzzles, getting a date)