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Mood Disorders
Author : Dr Tulika | 27 Dec 2023
What are mood disorders?
In everyday life, we go through a plethora of emotions. Some events take us to cloud nine, while some make us feel very low. Feeling elated or low is normal, and every individual experiences such mood changes. However, when there are severe fluctuations in mood, that persist over a period of several months or even years, to an extent that they start disrupting daily life, it is termed as mood disorder. There are many types of mood disorders, they occur with different symptomatology at different age groups – children, teenagers and adults, and there are many treatment options to keep them under control.
What are the different types of mood disorders?
‘Mood disorders’ is a very broad terminology and it encompasses many forms of psychiatric disorders, commonest amongst them being:
● Depressive Disorders – Depression is one of the most common psychiatric mood disorder. Depression manifests as a persistent low mood, constant feeling of sadness and urge to cry for no apparent reason, or far after the sad event has happened, loss of interest in daily life activities, and it can last for weeks or months. Depression can be postpartum (After pregnancy and delivery), Seasonal affective disorder (depression specific to season), related to chronic physical illness or due to substance abuse.
● Mania/ Hypomania – Exceptionally high energy and elated mood that persists long after the cause or sometimes without any obvious reason, is mania. Hypomania is a less severe form of mania.
● Bipolar Disorder – Bipolar disorder is a mood disorder in which the mood fluctuates between depression and mania alternately. So those suffering from bipolar disorder have mood swings between mania and depression alternating with each other.
● Dysthymia – Dysthymia is a chronic low-grade kind of depression that lasts for more than two years.
What is the cause of mood disorders?
It is difficult to pinpoint to a single cause as being solely responsible for mood disorders. However, following factors are believed to be contributory
- Family history of mood disorder
- Stressful event (work related stress, losing job, divorce, death in family, financial crisis etc)
- Substance abuse
- Chronic illness/ diseases like Diabetes, cancer, Parkinson’s disease etc
- Changes in brain neuro-chemicals
What are the symptoms of mood disorders?
Depending on what type of mood disorder is present, there can be a multitude of symptoms including
- Feeling low or feeling lonely
- Persistent sadness
- Loss of interest in daily activities
- Loss of interest in sex
- Unexplained/unprovoked irritability
- Relationship problems
- Sleep disturbances
- Loss of appetite/binge eating
- Difficulty in concentrating
- Difficulty in taking decisions
How are mood disorders diagnosed?
A qualified psychiatrist can diagnose the mood disorders from the symptomatology after taking a detailed history and conducting a complete psychiatric evaluation. A detailed physical examination is also done to identify any associated physical illness.
How are mood disorders treated?
The good news is, with timely diagnosis, consultation and initiation of appropriate treatment, moos disorders can be kept under control and a person can lead a normal life.
Following are the treatment options available:
Psychotherapy – Psychotherapy entails detailed discussion about the disease and changing the person’s views and perceptions that lead to the mood disorders. Cognitive behavioral therapy is one of the most effective psychotherapies for mood disorders. Others include interpersonal therapy, problem solving therapy etc.
Medications – Drugs such as anti-depressants, anti-psychotics, mood stabilizer’s etc are success fully used to treat various mood disorders.
Brain stimulation therapies – These are usually the last resort for refractive cases, and include electroconvulsive therapy and magnetic brain stimulation. So to summarize, mood disorders are real psychiatric disorders and they can be treated. If you feel any of the symptoms mentioned, contact your physician immediately.
