Mood disorders

Question 1

1. Provide the definition for mood disorders

Answer 1

Mood disorders refer to a group of emotional disturbance that cause people to experience serious and persistent difficulty maintaining an even, productive emotional state.

Question 2

2. What are the types of mood disorders?

Answer 2

Bipolar disorder

Bipolar is a brain disorder that causes unusual shifts in mood ,energy, activity levels, and the ability to carry out day-day tasks .

Bipolar disorder include alternating time of extreme sadness and extreme happiness.

Major Depressive Disorder (MDD)

Is a mental disorder characterized by at least 2 weeks of low mood that is present across most situations, often accompanied by low self esteem, loss of interest in normally enjoyable activities, low energy an d pain without a clear cause.

The primary characteristic of major depressive disorder is that the individual feel overwhelming or persistent period of extreme sadness.

Question 3

3. What are some of the causes of mood disorders?

Answer 3

Depression is thought to be caused by a combination of environmental, psychological, biological and genetic factors.
The most enduring theories involve neurotransmitters, which are chemicals in the brain, causing an imbalance that leads to depression.

Sometimes mood disorders may be related to a medical condition, substance abuse , life events and other causes .

Question 4

4. What are the symptoms of mood disorders?

Answer 4

The emotional symptom of mood disorder include;

• Thoughts of and attempts of committing suicide
• Prolonged sadness or unexplained crying spells
• Felling of worthlessness, helplessness or guilt
• unyielding, anxiety, sadness or feelings of emptiness
• Restlessness, helplessness and trouble engaging in daily tasks and relationships

The physical symptoms of mood disorder include;

• Headaches,
• Body aches/pain
• Cramps and digestive problems.
• It decreases energy and leads fatigue.
• It leads to difficulty remembering detail, making decisions or poor concentration.

Question 5

5. What are the effects of mood disorders?

Answer 5

1. People with mood disorder tend to alienate friends and family.
2. They often have trouble in schools and at work and have difficulty keeping a job.
   3, Those with mania tend to have problems with authority figures.
3. Those with depression have a high risk of suicide while people with mania comes the risk of death, injury or trauma caused by reckless and dangerous behaviour.

Question 6

6. What is t the treatment / medication for mood disorders?

Answer 6

Monoamine oxidase inhibitors (MAIOs) are a class of medication used to treat depression.

Mood stabilizing drugs
Lithium, anticonvulsants, stimulants ,

Antidepressant drugs
Electroconvulsive therapy
Natural/herbal treatments

Question 7

7. What are the side effects of medication

Answer 7

Weight gain / weight loss
Drowsiness
Dry mouth
Addiction
Damage to liver
Sexual side effects