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Affective disorders: causes, symptoms, diagnosis, treatment
Last reviewed: 07.07.2025
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Mood disorders are emotional disturbances characterized by prolonged periods of extreme sadness or extreme gaiety, or both. Mood disorders are divided into depressive and bipolar. Anxiety and related disorders also affect mood.
Sadness and joy (elevated mood) are part of normal 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, a form of depressed mood, is a normal emotional response to loss. The emotional response to the death of a loved one is described as bereavement.
Mood disorders are diagnosed when low or high mood is excessive, lasts longer than expected based on the cause, or occurs for no reason at all; and functioning is impaired. In such situations, marked sadness is called depression, and marked elevation of mood is called mania. Depressive disorders are characterized by depression; bipolar disorders are characterized by varying combinations of depression and mania. However, some features of depression and mania may overlap, especially when they first appear.
The lifetime risk of suicide for people with depressive disorder ranges from 2% to 15%, depending on the severity of the illness. The risk is highest immediately after discharge from hospital, when treatment has just begun and psychomotor activity has normalized, but mood remains depressed; the risk remains high for 1 year after discharge. The risk also increases during mixed bipolar states, in the premenstrual phase, and during personally significant anniversaries. Alcohol and other psychoactive substance use also increases the risk of suicide.
Other complications include dysfunctions ranging from mild impairments to complete inability to maintain social relationships, participate in daily activities; eating disorders; alcoholism and other addictions.
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