Module 42: Major Depressive Disorder and Bipolar Disorder

Question 1

major depressive disorder

Answer 1

a disorder in which a person experiences, in the absence of drugs or another medical condition, two or more weeks with five or more symptoms, at least one of which must be either (1) depressed mood or (2) loss of interest or pleasure

Question 2

bipolar disorder

Answer 2

a disorder in which a person alternates between the hopelessness and lethargy of depression and the overexcited state of mania (formly called manic-depressive disorder)

Question 3

mania

Answer 3

a hyperactive, wildly optimistic state in which dangerously poor judgment is common

Question 4

Any theory of depression must explain the following:

Answer 4

• Behaviors and thoughts change with depression
• Depression is widespread
• Women’s risk of major depressive disorder is roughly double men’s
• Most major depressive episode end on their own
• Work, marriage, and relationship stresses often precede depression
• Compared with generations past, depression strikes earlier (now often in late teens) and affects more people, with the highest rates among young adults in developing countries

(see pages 516-518 for details)

Question 5

Depression from a biological perspective

Answer 5

• heritability of major depressive disorder is approximately 40%
• brain activity slows during depression (and increases during mania)
• the left frontal lob and brain reward center become more active during positive emotions
• low connectivity between brain regions involving experiencing (a) emotion and (b) emotion regulation
• norepinephrine, a neurotransmitter that boosts arousal, is scarce during depression and overabundant during mania
• serotonin, another neurotransmitter, is also scarce or inactive during depression

Question 6

Depression from a social-cognitive perspective

Answer 6

explores how people’s assumptions and expectations influence what they perceive. Expecting the worst, depressed people magnify bad experiences and minimize good ones. Their self-defeating beliefs and negative explanatory style feed their depression

Question 7

rumination

Answer 7

compulsive fretting; over-thinking our problems and their causes