Affective disorders: causes, symptoms, diagnosis, treatment
Last reviewed: 23.04.2024
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Mood disorders are emotional disturbances, manifested by long periods of excessive sadness or excessive gaiety, or both. Mood disorders are divided into depressive and bipolar disorders. Anxiety and related disorders also affect mood.
Sadness and joy (high spirits) are part of ordinary life. Sadness is a universal response to defeat, disappointment and other unpleasant situations. Joy is a universal response to success, achievement and other encouraging situations. Grief as a variant of a reduced mood is a normal emotional reaction to loss. The emotional reaction to the death of a loved one is described as a heavy loss.
Mood disorders are diagnosed if the decrease or uplift of the mood is excessive, lasts longer than one would expect from the cause that caused them, or if there is no reason at all; and thus the functioning is disturbed. In such situations, pronounced sadness is called depression, and a marked increase in mood is a mania. Depressive disorders are characterized by depression; bipolar disorder characterized by a different combination of depression and mania. However, some signs of depression and mania may overlap, especially when they first appear.
The risk of suicide during life for people with depressive disorder is 2 to 15% and depends on the severity of the disease. The maximum risk is observed immediately after discharge from the hospital, when the treatment is just started and the psychomotor activity normalizes, and the mood remains reduced; the risk remains high for 1 year after discharge. The risk also rises during mixed bipolar states, in the premenstrual phase, during personally significant anniversaries. The use of alcohol and other psychoactive substances also increases the risk of suicide.
Other complications include malfunctions - from mild violations to total inability to maintain social relationships, participate in daily activities; eating disorders; alcoholism and other addictions.
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