Mood Disorders - Classification & Treatment (DSM-IV)

Mood disorders are characterized mainly by noticeable changes in mood that interfere with the individual’s capability to work. In genreal, mood disorders can be categorized into two groups:

1. Unipolar (also called depressive), which entails depression just. Unipolar is pretty common, affecting 10% of males and about 20% of females.
2. Bipolar disorder was formerly understood and is frequently popularly known as manic depression. When compared with unipolar disorder, bipolar happens much less often, affecting  only 1% - 2% of the people and afflicting both sexes equally.

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The gender disparity in depression may be an illusion, however, revealing gender differences in readiness to seek help, as opposed to a real gender difference in the prevalence of depression. The difference also reveals the existence of specific types of atypical depression that guys, including postpartum depression change.

Most patients experience multiple episodes, and mood disorders in many cases are long-term. Minimal symptoms are related to increased danger of serious impairment and subsequent episodes. Suicide tendency is also a major problem for individuals with depression, where 15% of them will commit suicide.

Generally speaking, depression symptoms is shown by a reduction of productivity and energy, social withdrawal, pessimism, negative feelings about the self, as well as suicidal thinking. Disruptions in eating habits, which might entail either loss of appetite or excessive eating, together with decline of interest in sex may are also a regular symptoms of depression.

On the other hand,  contrary symptoms such as euphoric or elevated mood happened on mania, where despair is replaced by happiness, impulsiveness, self esteem is inflated to almost delusional proportions, needs for sleep is reduced,and sexual indiscretions are also common.

Types of Depressive and Bipolar Disorder

The DSM-IV (Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders) currently recognizes the following types of depressive and bipolar disorders:

	Type of Disorder	Description
Depressive Disorders (Unipolar)	Major depressive disorder,	More severe; recurrent or chronic
	Dysthimic Disorder	Less severe; lasts at least 2 years
	Depressive Disorder Not Otherwise Specified (NOS)
Bipolar Disorders (one or more manic episode)	Bipolar I Disorder	More severe;one or more fully manic episodes
	Bipolar II Disorder	Less severe; One or more hypomanic but no manic episodes
	Cyclothymic Disorder	Less severe, with mood deflections in both directions
	Bipolar Disorder NOS
Mood Disorder Due to General Medical Condition
Substance-Induced Mood Disorder

 

It's the persistent nature of these episodes that causes treatment to be essential, though mania tends to be short term, depression can be long-term.

Among majority of people who have bipolar disorders (more than 70%), which are generally more serious and thus more likely to be identified by physicians than unipolar depression, almost half don't get proper treatment. Given the impact of mood disorders on the extremely raised risk of suicide, and quality of life when compared with the general population, this is terrible, particularly in light of the access to treatments that are unusually successful.

Treatment

Antidepressant medicines, by way of example, are quite successful oftentimes, and the side effects have been mostly reduced by the newer generation of medicines. The latest antidepressant drugs supply some insights that are clear concerning the factors behind depression.There's a clear pattern of brain chemistry related to depression, while it may not really be the origin of the syndrome in all instances. Variations in the available amount of two neurotransmitters, dopamine and serotonin, are connected with feelings of wellbeing.Extensively used antidepressants for example fluoxetine (sold under the trade name Prozac) function in precisely the same manner. This is the reason the drugs are called Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitors (SSRIs).

The exact same chemical processes are also included in the cycling between depression and mania that qualifies the bipolar illnesses. The manic phase is related to raised levels of serotonin and dopamine, but creation of excessive quantities is something the neurons can just do for a small time; the consequent fall in neurotransmitter levels which follows entails a fall to below-normal levels, thereby returning the individual to a blue state.

The changes in neurotransmitter levels related to mania and depression are often brought on by changes in state of mind, yet, which is non-pharmacological treatments can be quite powerful also. Antidepressant drugs are comparatively safe and are quite powerful for many patients, but there isn't any signs that they lower the danger of return after their use is terminated.

Cognitive-behavior therapy (CBT) is particularly promising as a treatment for depression, because it appears not only in order to alleviate misery even in serious depression, but in addition, it appears to significantly reduce the threat of the return of symptoms as long as it's continued or preserved. Additionally, it reduces the danger of relapse after treatment is finished. This may be because rather than just treating the symptoms, CBT calls for learning techniques to prevent falling back into a blue state. Just behavioral techniques haven’t been examined as extensively as CBT, but in addition they seem to be fairly successful for reasons that are similar. There continues to be no or little signs of the effectiveness of psychodynamically established treatments.

Bipolar disorder may also be treated effectively with drugs. Along with antidepressants, treatment of bipolar disorder typically contains anticonvulsants or mood stabilizer drugs, mainly lithium compounds, to prevent manic episodes. The utilization of psychotherapy with bipolar disorder has got much less attention from researchers than it's for depression, but what little studies have been done indicates similar guarantee for a drugs and treatment methodology.

Further Reading:
American Psychiatric Association. DSM-IV-TR: Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders. 4th ed. Text revision. Washington, DC: American Psychiatric Association, 2000.