Mood Disorders

The phrase "Mood Disorder" is the term which designates a group of diagnoses in which the person's mood is believed to be the main underlying feature of the disorder. The "mood" that is expressed by the person is unusual for the situation. Whether the individual expresses a depressive mood or a manic mood, it can be a mood disorder.

Mood disorders consist of cyclic and non cyclic disorders. Bipolar disorder (manic depressive illness) represents an instability of mood that leads to episodes of severe depression with occasional bouts of mania. Cycling can occur rapidly (e.g., weekly) or less than four times yearly. Many individuals previously diagnosed with major depressive disorder are often found to suffer from bipolar disorder. The treatment of major depressive disorder can be quite different from that of bipolar disorder.

Reactive depressive states occur. It is sometimes difficult to differentiate a situational depressive mood state (unhappiness) from a life stress that triggers a biological predisposition that results in a pathological depression.

In addition, there are a number of medical mimics of mood disorders including abnormalities of the thyroid gland, vitamin deficiencies, female and male hormonal disturbances, medications, cancer.

This "group of diagnoses" included in mood disorders are...

• Bipolar

• Depression

• Substance Induced

According to the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH), about 9.5% of the adult U.S. population suffers from a mood disorder. That's 20.9 million Americans who are dealing with this every day. They also report that 14% of 13-18 year olds suffer from mood disorders.