Depressive Disorders & More
Want to know more about depressive disorders and other disorders related to them?
What is a depressive disorder?
Depressive disorders are characterized by sadness severe enough or persistent enough to interfere with function and often by decreased interest or pleasure in activities.
Major Depressive Disorder
It is a mental health disorder that is characterized by persistently depressed mood or loss of interest in activities, causing significant distress and impairment in daily life. This could caused due to biology or surrounding environmental factors, or general feeling of being unwanted in some way by society.
Additional symptoms include:
- Loss of Appetite
- Weight loss or gain
- Insomnia or hypersomnia
- Feelings of worthless
- Frequent thoughts about dying
- Drug addiction which can lead to depression
Bipolar Disorder
A Bipolar Disorder can arise from major depressive episodes, and the diagnosis’s of each should be known for those thinking that they may have this disorder.
Some differences between them are as follows:
Bipolar 1
- Must include a manic episode that lasts 7 days or more
- Usually leads to hospitalization or supervised care
- May include Hypomania, which is a condition in which one displays a amped up energy or activity level compared to normal
- Usually has depressive moods and manic episodes for very long periods of time.
Manic Episodes
Major depressive episodes followed by irritable mood may be difficult to distinguish from manic episode with irritable mood or any other mixed episode.
On the right, some common symptoms of an individual with mania is displayed.
Mood disorder caused by other conditions
An important thing to know is that some mood disorders may actually be caused by other conditions, like a stroke.
Due to a new impairment or dysfunction in the brain, a person may no longer be able to regulate their emotions and moods properly.
Substance Use Disorder
Some substances like marajuna have been known to cause depressive symptoms.
This can be separated from Major Depressive Disorder because the depressive symptoms are purely tied to the substance and guilt from using it.
Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder
Individuals who are distracted easily and have low frustration tolerance may be prone to having major symptoms arise in depressive episodes.
However, sometimes clinicians diagnose someone with a depressive mood disorder when they are irritable, rather than just being sad and having a loss of interest.
