{"id":295,"date":"2013-11-21T19:00:45","date_gmt":"2013-11-21T19:00:45","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/opentextbc.ca\/introductiontopsychology\/?post_type=chapter&p=295"},"modified":"2016-11-23T18:02:56","modified_gmt":"2016-11-23T18:02:56","slug":"12-3-mood-disorders-emotions-as-illness","status":"publish","type":"chapter","link":"https:\/\/opentextbc.ca\/introductiontopsychology\/chapter\/12-3-mood-disorders-emotions-as-illness\/","title":{"raw":"13.3 Mood Disorders: Emotions as Illness","rendered":"13.3 Mood Disorders: Emotions as Illness"},"content":{"raw":"
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Learning Objectives<\/h3>\r\n
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  1. Summarize and differentiate the various forms of mood disorders, in particular dysthymia, major depressive disorder, and bipolar disorder.<\/li>\r\n \t
  2. Explain the genetic and environmental factors that increase the likelihood that a person will develop a mood disorder.<\/li>\r\n<\/ol>\r\n<\/div>\r\nThe everyday variations in our feelings of happiness and sadness reflect our mood<\/strong>, which can be defined as the positive or negative feelings that are in the background of our everyday experiences<\/em>. In most cases we are in a relatively good mood, and this positive mood has some positive consequences \u2014 it encourages us to do what needs to be done and to make the most of the situations we are in (Isen, 2003).\u00a0When we are in a good mood our thought processes open up, and we are more likely to approach others. We are more friendly and helpful to others when we are in a good mood than we are when we are in a bad mood, and we may think more creatively (De Dreu, Baas, & Nijstad, 2008).\u00a0On the other hand, when we are in a bad mood we are more likely to prefer to be alone rather than interact with others, we focus on the negative things around us, and our creativity suffers.\r\n\r\nIt is not unusual to feel down or low at times, particularly after a painful event such as the death of someone close to us, a disappointment at work, or an argument with a partner. We often get depressed when we are tired, and many people report being particularly sad during the winter when the days are shorter. Mood (or affective) disorders<\/strong> are psychological disorders in which the person\u2019s mood negatively influences his or her physical, perceptual, social, and cognitive processes<\/em>. People who suffer from mood disorders tend to experience more intense \u2014 and particularly more intense negative \u2014 moods. About 5% of the Canadian population suffers from a mood disorder in a given year (Health Canada, 2002).\r\n\r\nThe most common symptom of mood disorders is negative mood, also known as sadness or depression (<\/em>Figure 13.9, \"Depression\"). Consider the feelings of this person, who was struggling with depression and was diagnosed with major depressive disorder<\/em>:\r\n
    I didn\u2019t want to face anyone; I didn\u2019t want to talk to anyone. I didn\u2019t really want to do anything for myself\u2026I couldn\u2019t sit down for a minute really to do anything that took deep concentration\u2026It was like I had big huge weights on my legs and I was trying to swim and just kept sinking. And I\u2019d get a little bit of air, just enough to survive and then I\u2019d go back down again. It was just constantly, constantly just fighting, fighting, fighting, fighting, fighting. (National Institute of Mental Health, 2010)<\/blockquote>\r\n \r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_4403\" align=\"aligncenter\" width=\"300\"]\"Sad<\/a> Figure 13.9 Depression.[\/caption]\r\n\r\nMood disorders can occur at any age, and the median age of onset is 32 years (Kessler, Berglund, Demler, Jin, & Walters, 2005).\u00a0Recurrence of depressive episodes is fairly common and is greatest for those who first experience depression before the age of 15 years. About twice as many women as men suffer from depression (Culbertson, 1997).\u00a0This gender difference is consistent across many countries and cannot be explained entirely by the fact that women are more likely to seek treatment for their depression. Rates of depression have been increasing, although the reasons for this increase are not known (Kessler et al., 2003).\r\n\r\nAs you can see in the list below, the experience of depression has a variety of negative effects on our behaviours. In addition to the loss of interest, productivity, and social contact that accompanies depression, the person\u2019s sense of hopelessness and sadness may become so severe that he or she considers or even succeeds in committing suicide. In 2009 there were 3,890 suicides in Canada, a rate of 11.5 per 100,000 (Navaneelan, 2012). Almost all the people who commit suicide have a diagnosable psychiatric disorder at the time of their death (Statistics Canada, 2012; Sudak, 2005).\r\n
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    Behaviours Associated with Depression<\/h3>\r\n