Mood Disorder
A mood disorder is a mental health condition that primarily impacts your emotional state. If you have particular types of mood disorders, your overall emotional state or mood is distorted or inconsistent with your circumstances and interferes with your ability to function. You could experience intense sadness, emptiness, irritability, or episodes of depression mixed with excessive happiness.
Your mood may fluctuate based on the conditions, which is natural. However, symptoms must be persistent for a few weeks or more to diagnose this psychological disorder.
- Irritability, hostility, or aggressiveness
- Persistent sadness, emptiness, or anxiety
- Changes in weight or appetite
- Changes in sleeping habits
- Difficulty concentrating
- Feeling down almost all of the time or almost daily
- Lack of energy
- Feeling hopeless or unworthy
- Loss of interest in once-enjoyable activities
- Thoughts about death or suicide
Types of Mood Disorders
The following are considered the types of mood disorders:
- Depression and its subtypes
- Bipolar disorder and its subtypes
- Premenstrual dysphoric disorder
- Disruptive mood dysregulation disorder
Depression
A common mental disorder is depression (either major or clinical depression). Sadness or hopelessness is one of the signs of depression. Additionally, the condition makes it difficult to think, remember, eat, and sleep properly. There are several types of depression, including:
Postpartum depression
Pregnant women and new mothers experience this sort of depression during or after giving birth. After having a baby, they go through hormonal, physical, emotional, monetary, and social changes. These changes may contribute to postpartum depression symptoms. It may also have an impact on surrogates and adoptive parents.
Persistent depressive disorder
PDD is a persistent mild to moderate type of depression. A person with PDD has a sad, dark, or low mood and two or more other symptoms of depression. This type of depression is persistent and must last for at least two years. Although it’s not as bad as major depressive disorder, it still exists.
Major depressive disorder
Major Depressive Disorder involves a consistently depressed or empty mood along with multiple other symptoms such as low energy, sleep changes, or difficulty concentrating. It is more severe than persistent depressive conditions and lasts a minimum of two weeks.
Seasonal affective disorder
Seasonal affective disorder (SAD) is a type of depression that’s triggered by a change in seasons. Usually, it begins in the late fall or early winter lasting until spring or summer. SAD episodes less frequently begin during the late spring or summer. They often decrease or disappear in the spring and summer. Seasonal affective disorder throughout the winter may present similar symptoms as serious depression.
Depression with psychosis
This is a type of severe depression accompanied by psychotic symptoms including hallucinations (seeing or hearing things that other people don’t) or delusions (having fixed but false beliefs). Suicidal thoughts are more likely to occur in those who suffer from psychotic depression.
Bipolar Disorder
Bipolar disorder is a lifelong mood disorder and mental health condition that involves abrupt changes in mood, energy levels, thought processes, and behavior. There are a few different varieties of bipolar disorder, which are characterized by severe mood swings known as hypomanic/manic and depressed episodes. These shifts interfere with your ability to do daily duties and can last for a few minutes or several days, weeks, or even months. There are four types of bipolar disorder, including:
Bipolar I disorder
People who have bipolar I disorder have gone through one or more manic episodes. Mania is a disorder in which you experience dramatic changes in your emotions, thoughts, energy, talkativeness, and activity level. You may also experience a time of excessively high or irritated mood. Although most patients with bipolar I will have both manic and depressive episodes, a depressive episode is not required for a diagnosis.
Bipolar II disorder
Similar to bipolar I, this disorder causes periods of depression. A person with this illness also experiences hypomania, which is a less severe form of mania. Manic episodes are more severe and disruptive than hypomanic phases. A person with bipolar II illness is often capable of managing everyday responsibilities.
Cyclothymia disorder
A milder form of bipolar disorder is called cyclothymia (cyclothymic disorder). It includes repeated hypomanic and depressive episodes with mood swings. Cyclothymic disorder patients have persistent mood instability. They go through moderate sadness and hypomania for at least two years.
Other unspecified bipolar disorder
This form of bipolar disorder has symptoms that don’t fit any of the other categories, yet patients nevertheless experience major abnormal mood fluctuations.
Other Mood Disorders
Premenstrual dysphoric disorder (PMDD)
This kind of mood disturbance starts seven to ten days before menstruation and disappears a few days after the menstrual cycle begins. It’s a more serious form of premenstrual syndrome (PMS). According to researchers, hormonal changes are thought to cause this condition related to the menstrual cycle. Symptoms may include anger, irritability, anxiety, depression, and insomnia.
Disruptive mood dysregulation disorder (DMDD)
Children and teenagers are affected by DMDD. It is a disorder of chronic, severe, and persistent irritability in children that often includes frequent temper outbursts that are inconsistent with the child’s developmental age. DMDD is more severe than an intermittent explosive disorder (IED), and anger is present most of the time, occurring before the age of 10.