It is normal for someone’s mood to change, depending on the situation. However, to be diagnosed with a mood disorder, symptoms must be present for several weeks or longer. Mood disorders can cause changes in your behavior and can affect your ability to deal with routine activities, such as work or school.
Mood Disorders as defined by American Psychiatric Association (APA) are characterized by mood disturbances on
a continuum from depression to mania.
A mood disorder is a mental health problem that primarily affects a person’s emotional state. It is a disorder in which a person experiences long periods of extreme happiness, extreme sadness, or both.
Types of Mood Disorders:
- Disruptive mood dysregulation
- Dysthymia
- Seasonal Affect Disorder
- Post-Partum Depression
- Adjustment Disorders
- Bipolar I
- Bipolar II
- A mood disorder is a mental health class that is used to broadly describe all types of depression and bipolar disorders.
- The most common types of mood disorders are major depression, dysthymia (dysthymic disorder), bipolar disorder, mood disorder due to a general medical condition, and substance-induced mood disorder.
- There is no clear cause of mood disorders. It is believed that they are a result of chemical imbalances in the brain. Some types of mood disorders seem to run in families, this continues to be an area of research.
- In general, nearly everyone with a mood disorder has ongoing feelings of sadness and may feel helpless, hopeless, and irritable. Without treatment, symptoms can last for weeks, months, or years, and can impact the quality of life.
- Depression is most often treated with medicine, psychotherapy or cognitive behavioral therapy, family therapy, or a combination of medicine and therapy. In some cases, other therapies, such as electroconvulsive therapy and transcranial stimulation may be used.