Major Disorders: Mood

Mood Disorders Emotional extremes of mood disorders come in two principal forms Major depressive disorder Bipolar disorder OBJECTIVE 12| Define mood disorders, and contrast major depressive disorder and bipolar disorder.

Seasonal Affective Disorder Experience depression during the winter months Based not on temperature, but on amount of sunlight Treated with light therapy

Major Depressive Disorder Depression is the “common cold” of psychological disorders Leading cause of disability worldwide In a year, 5.8% of men and 9.5% of women report depression worldwide Major depressive disorder occurs when signs of depression last two weeks or more and are not caused by drugs or medical conditions Signs include: Lethargy and fatigue Feelings of worthlessness Loss of interest in family & friends Loss of interest in activities

Major Depressive Disorder By many accounts, depression is under diagnosed and under treated. Globally speaking, studies indicate that depression is the single most prevalent disability. While some differences may be a result of reporting, other factors seem to be at work too: Taiwan/Korea = low divorce rate Lebanon = war in Middle East Lifetime Risk of a Depressive Episode lasting a Year or More Taiwan 1.5% Korea 2.9% Puerto Rico 4.3% U.S. 5.2% Germany 9.2% Canada 9.6% New Zealand 11.6% France 16.4% Lebanon 19%

Beck’s Basics Aaron Beck suggests that depression is a result of negative thinking which he called ‘cognitive errors’ (errors in logic) Beck identified three negative thoughts that seemed to be really automatic and occurred without delay in depressed patients. The “Cognitive Triad:” Self External World Future Beck believes that faulty thinking leads to depression. The question remains though, which came first, the depression or the faulty thoughts.

Dysthymic Disorder Dysthymic disorder lies between a blue mood and major depressive disorder It is a disorder characterized by daily depression lasting two years or more Down in the dumps mood Chronic low energy, low self-esteem, difficulty concentrating, and sleep and eat too little or too much Major Depressive Disorder Blue Mood Dysthymic

Depression Cycle Negative stressful events. Pessimistic explanatory style. Hopeless depressed state. These hamper the way the individual thinks and acts, fueling personal rejection.

Explanatory style plays a major role in becoming depressed. Example Explanatory style plays a major role in becoming depressed.

The Baby Blues Maternity (Baby) Blues: Mild depression that lasts for one to two days after childbirth Marked by crying, fitful sleep, tension, anger, and irritability Brief and not too severe

Postpartum Depression Postpartum Depression: Moderately severe depression that begins within three months following childbirth Marked by mood swings, despondency, feelings of inadequacy, and an inability to cope with the new baby May last from two months to one year Part of the problem may be hormonal

Inability to make decisions Bipolar Disorder Formerly called manic-depressive disorder An alternation between depression and mania signals bipolar disorder Overactive, elated, little need for sleep, few sexual inhibitions, loud, and flighty What goes up MUST come down Bipolar I Disorder: Extreme mania and deep depression; one type of manic-depressive illness Bipolar II Disorder: Person is mainly sad but has one or more hypomanic episodes (mild mania) Multiple ideas Hyperactive Desire for action Euphoria Elation Manic Symptoms Slowness of thought Tired Inability to make decisions Withdrawn Gloomy Depressive Symptoms

The Depressed Brain PET scans show that brain energy consumption rises and falls with manic and depressive episodes

Milder forms have free flowing thinking and fuel creativity Bipolar Disorder Mania has maladaptive symptoms such as high optimism and self-esteem, recklessness Milder forms have free flowing thinking and fuel creativity Many great writers, poets, and composers suffered from bipolar disorder During their manic phase creativity surged, but not during their depressed phase Whitman Wolfe Clemens Hemingway

Neurotransmitters & Depression A reduction of norepinephrine and serotonin has been found in depression Drugs that alleviate mania reduce norepinephrine Pre-synaptic Neuron Serotonin Norepinephrine Post-synaptic Neuron

Explaining Mood Disorders Since depression is so prevalent worldwide, investigators want to develop a theory of depression that will suggest ways to treat it Lewinsohn et al., note that a theory of depression should explain the following: Behavioral and cognitive changes Common causes of depression Gender differences Depressive episodes self-terminate. Depression is increasing, especially in the teens. OBJECTIVE 13| Discuss the facts that an acceptable theory of depression must explain.

Suicide The most severe form of behavioral response to depression is suicide Each year some 1 million people commit suicide worldwide National differences Racial differences Gender differences Age differences Other differences Suicide Statistics

Causes of Mood Disorders Psychological Views Psychoanalytic - as children, they suffered a loss of a loved one. Child repressed anger, leading to guilt & loss of self-esteem, finally depression. Learning Theorist - (Learned Helplessness) people have learned that previous negative events in their lives were out of their control - leads them to expect future events to be out of their control too. Psychological view -- as a child, they suffered a real or imagined loss of a loved object or person. The child feels anger toward the lost object or person, but, instead of expressing the anger, internalizes it and directs it toward himself or herself. This leads to feelings of guilt and loss of self-esteem, which in turn lead to depression.. = Learning Theorist -(Learned Helplessness) people have learned through experience to believe that previous events in their lives were out of their control, leading them to expects future events will be out of their control as well. As a result, whenever a negative events occur, these people feel helpless, and this leads to depression. A study was done with dogs in which a psychologist taught dogs learned helplessness - in this case that they were helpless in escaping from an electric shock. He placed a barrier in the dogs cage to prevent them from leaving when shocks were administered. Later he removed the barrier, however when the the shocks were administered again, the dogs made no effort to escape. They had apparently learned they were helpless to anything to prevent the pain.

Causes of Mood Disorders Cognitive Theorist - Depressed people have negative views of themselves from bad experiences in childhood. They now filter any positive info in their lives Biological Views - People w/depression may have lower levels of serotonin & noradrenaline. Genetic influences Both - two work together, cycling downward OBJECTIVE 15| Summarize the contribution of the social-cognitive perspective to the study of depression, and describe the events in the cycle of depression. OBJECTIVE 14| Summarize the contribution of the biological perspective to the study of depression, and discuss the link between suicide and depression. = • Cognitive Theorist - Depressed people have negative views of themselves from negative experiences in childhood. They now tend to filter out the positive information in their lives. They Also perceive negative information more negative than it really is. Biological - Mood disorders tend to occur more often in close relatives. Similar research with twins have shown similar results. People with depression seem to have lower levels of serotonin and noradrenaline. These are two neurotransmitters in the brain that is involved with emotion and mood. Both - Going back to the dog example that learned they were helpless to escape electric shocks. They also had less noradrenaline in their brains. Helplessness is linked to lower levels of noradrenaline. So the relationship may be a vicious cycle: a depressing situation may slow the production of noradrenaline in the brain, therefore depressing a person even more.

Social-Cognitive Perspective The social-cognitive perspective suggests that depression arises partly from self-defeating beliefs and negative explanatory styles