MOOD DISORDERS
When emotions take over
Mood disorders are when disturbances in an individual's emotional state are so extreme that they affect his or her thinking processes, social relationships, and behavior. These tend to be episodic, meaning the symptoms will come and go. There are two major types of mood disorders that can be broken down into several sub-types. They are depressive disorder and bipolar disorder.
DEPRESSIVE DISORDERS
To be diagnosed with major depression, an individual has to experience a major depressive episode at least once. Major depressive episodes last for a period of two weeks or longer, and the individual will suffer from some, if not all, of the following symptoms:
- An overwhelming and consistent feeling of sadness or irritability
- Feeling guilty or worthless
- A loss of interest in doing anything, even previously enjoyable activities, and a lack of interest in being social
- Having very low energy
- Being unable to focus or make decisions
- Experiencing a change in eating patterns, either not eating well or eating too much
- Experiencing a change in sleeping patterns, either not being able to sleep or sleeping too much
- Experiencing recurrent thoughts of suicide or death
Interestingly enough, individuals that are extremely depressed will usually not commit suicide because, during their major depressive episode, they feel too apathetic and unmotivated to create a suicide plan and follow through with it. Instead, it is during the recovery process, when the individual has more major depression than men. While more women also attempt suicide than men, men are more successful with following through with their suicide than women. In addition to major depression, there are several other types of depression that share these symptoms:
Dysthymia Disorder
If a person experiences major depression symptoms for at least two years, then they have what is known as dysthymia disorder. It should be noted that people who suffer from this do not experience depressive symptoms at all times. There are moments when they do feel completely normal.
Seasonal Affective Disorder
Appropriately referred to as SAD, seasonal affective disorder is when a person suffers from symptoms of depression because of the time of the year. The majority of people who experience the condition do so in the wintertime.
Psychotic Major Depression
This is when an individual suffers from symptoms of major depression and also has hallucinations and delusions.
Postpartum Depression
Postpartum depression occurs when a woman experiences depression following childbirth. This may be due to shifts in hormone levels, a lack of sleep, bodily changes in the woman's social or work relationships.
Atypical Depression
This is a type of depression where an individual has many characteristics of major depression. Symptoms of atypical depression usually included a gain in weight and increase in appetite, excessive sleeping or always feeling tired, and feeling very sensitive to any type of rejection.
Catatonic Depression
This is a very rare type of depressive disorder where a person will become motionless for an extended period of time, or move in a violent or strange manner. People who suffer from catatonic depression will sometimes decide not to speak, or may even imitate the actions or speaking pattern of another individual.
Melancholic Depression
This type of depression is characterized by losing interest and pleasure in many, if not all, activities. Individuals also find it very difficult to react positively when something good happens. Symptoms are generally worse in the morning, and early morning awakening can occur, where an individual wakes up on his or her own at least two hours too early without an external source causing the person to wake.
Individuals suffering from melancholic depression also experience a very strong sadness that is obvious because of how different the person seems.
"Depression is a prison where you are both the suffering prisoner and the cruel jailer."- Dorothy Rowe
~Bella
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