Mood (Affective) Disorders

Author(s):  
Carol S. North ◽  
Sean H. Yutzy

Descriptions of mood disorders go back to the time of Hippocrates. Mood disorders are primarily characterized by depressed and/or elevated (manic) moods. The essential feature of mood disorders is an episode that is a distinct and persistent change from a person’s typical mood (depression or mania), accompanied by other depressive and manic symptoms, lasting 2 weeks for a major depressive episode and 1 week for a manic episode. Such episodes typically remit and recur over the course of time. Manic episodes define bipolar disorder. Severe depression without manic episodes is diagnosed as major depressive disorder. Mood disorders present a 10- to 30-fold risk for suicide. Effective treatments for mood disorders include medications, brain stimulation modalities, and psychotherapy.

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hasan A Baloch ◽  
Jair C. Soares

Affective disorders are among the most common disorders in psychiatry. They are generally classified according to the persistence and extent of symptoms and by the polarity of these symptoms. The two poles of the affective spectrum are mania and depression. Bipolar disorder is characterized by the presence of the mania or hypomania and often depression. Unipolar depression is defined by depression in the absence of a lifetime history of mania or hypomania. These differences are not merely categorical but have important implications for the prognosis and treatment of these conditions. Bipolar disorder, for example, is better treated using mood-stabilizing medication, whereas unipolar depression responds optimally to antidepressant medications. In addition, prognostically, unipolar depression may sometimes be limited to one episode in a lifetime, whereas bipolar disorder is typically a lifelong condition. The course of both conditions, however, is often chronic, and frequently patients can present with unipolar depression only to later develop manic symptoms. A thorough understanding of both conditions is therefore required to treat patients presenting with affective symptomatology. This chapter discusses the epidemiology, etiology and genetics, pathogenesis, diagnosis, and treatment of unipolar depression and bipolar disorder. Figures illustrate gray matter differences with lithium use and the bipolar spectrum. Tables list the pharmacokinetics of commonly used antidepressants and medications commonly used in the treatment of bipolar disorder. This review contains 2 figures, 2 tables, and 136 references.


Symmetry ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (12) ◽  
pp. 2414
Author(s):  
Chiara Spironelli ◽  
Francesca Fusina ◽  
Marco Bortolomasi ◽  
Alessandro Angrilli

In the last few decades, the incidence of mood disorders skyrocketed worldwide and has brought an increasing human and economic burden. Depending on the main symptoms and their evolution across time, they can be classified in several clinical subgroups. A few psychobiological indices have been extensively investigated as promising markers of mood disorders. Among these, frontal asymmetry measured at rest with quantitative EEG has represented the main available marker in recent years. Only a few studies so far attempted to distinguish the features and differences among diagnostic types of mood disorders by using this index. The present study measured frontal EEG asymmetry during a 5-min resting state in three samples of patients with bipolar disorder in a Euthymic phase (EBD, n = 17), major depressive disorder (MDD, n = 25) and persistent depressive disorder (PDD, n = 21), once termed dysthymia. We aimed to test the hypothesis that MDD and PDD lack the typical leftward asymmetry exhibited by normal as well as EBD patients, and that PDD shows greater clinical and neurophysiological impairments than MDD. Clinical scales revealed no symptoms in EBD, and significant larger anxiety and depression scores in PDD than in MDD patients. Relative beta (i.e., beta/alpha ratio) EEG asymmetry was measured from lateral frontal sites and results revealed the typical greater left than right frontal beta activity in EBD, as well as a lack of asymmetry in both MDD and PDD. The last two groups also had lower bilateral frontal beta activity in comparison with the EBD group. Results concerning group differences were interpreted by taking into account both the clinical and the neurophysiological domains.


2010 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hasan A Baloch ◽  
Jair C. Soares

Affective disorders are among the most common disorders in psychiatry. They are generally classified according to the persistence and extent of symptoms and by the polarity of these symptoms. The two poles of the affective spectrum are mania and depression. Bipolar disorder is characterized by the presence of the mania or hypomania and often depression. Unipolar depression is defined by depression in the absence of a lifetime history of mania or hypomania. These differences are not merely categorical but have important implications for the prognosis and treatment of these conditions. Bipolar disorder, for example, is better treated using mood-stabilizing medication, whereas unipolar depression responds optimally to antidepressant medications. In addition, prognostically, unipolar depression may sometimes be limited to one episode in a lifetime, whereas bipolar disorder is typically a lifelong condition. The course of both conditions, however, is often chronic, and frequently patients can present with unipolar depression only to later develop manic symptoms. A thorough understanding of both conditions is therefore required to treat patients presenting with affective symptomatology. This chapter discusses the epidemiology, etiology and genetics, pathogenesis, diagnosis, and treatment of unipolar depression and bipolar disorder. Figures illustrate gray matter differences with lithium use and the bipolar spectrum. Tables list the pharmacokinetics of commonly used antidepressants and medications commonly used in the treatment of bipolar disorder. This review contains 2 figures, 2 tables, and 135 references.


2011 ◽  
Vol 2011 ◽  
pp. 1-10 ◽  
Author(s):  
Victor Vostrikov ◽  
Natalya Uranova

The postnatal maturation of the human prefrontal cortex is associated with substantial increase of number of oligodendrocytes. Previously, we reported decreased numerical density of oligodendrocytes in the prefrontal cortex in schizophrenia and mood disorders. To gain further understanding of the role oligodendrocytes in pathogenesis of schizophrenia and mood disorders, we examined the effect of the age on the number of oligodendrocytes in the prefrontal cortex in schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, and major depressive disorder. We revealed the age-related increase in numerical density of oligodendrocytes in layer VI and adjacent white matter of BA10 and BA 9 in normal controls but not in schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, and major depressive disorder. The absence of normal increase in the number of oligodendrocytes in gray and white matter with age in schizophrenia and mood disorders suggests that age-related process of oligodendrocyte increase is dysregulated in schizophrenia and mood disorders.


2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jonathan R. I. Coleman ◽  
Héléna A. Gaspar ◽  
Julien Bryois ◽  
Gerome Breen ◽  
◽  
...  

AbstractBackgroundMood disorders (including major depressive disorder and bipolar disorder) affect 10-20% of the population. They range from brief, mild episodes to severe, incapacitating conditions that markedly impact lives. Despite their diagnostic distinction, multiple approaches have shown considerable sharing of risk factors across the mood disorders.MethodsTo clarify their shared molecular genetic basis, and to highlight disorder-specific associations, we meta-analysed data from the latest Psychiatric Genomics Consortium (PGC) genome-wide association studies of major depression (including data from 23andMe) and bipolar disorder, and an additional major depressive disorder cohort from UK Biobank (total: 185,285 cases, 439,741 controls; non-overlapping N = 609,424).ResultsSeventy-three loci reached genome-wide significance in the meta-analysis, including 15 that are novel for mood disorders. More genome-wide significant loci from the PGC analysis of major depression than bipolar disorder reached genome-wide significance. Genetic correlations revealed that type 2 bipolar disorder correlates strongly with recurrent and single episode major depressive disorder. Systems biology analyses highlight both similarities and differences between the mood disorders, particularly in the mouse brain cell types implicated by the expression patterns of associated genes. The mood disorders also differ in their genetic correlation with educational attainment – positive in bipolar disorder but negative in major depressive disorder.ConclusionsThe mood disorders share several genetic associations, and can be combined effectively to increase variant discovery. However, we demonstrate several differences between these disorders. Analysing subtypes of major depressive disorder and bipolar disorder provides evidence for a genetic mood disorders spectrum.


Author(s):  
Harvinder Singh ◽  
Brian Frankel

In this chapter the topics that are reviewed include major depressive disorder, persistent depressive disorder (dysthymia), unspecified depressive disorder, bipolar I disorder, bipolar II disorder, cyclothymic disorder and unspecified bipolar disorder


2011 ◽  
Vol 199 (1) ◽  
pp. 49-56 ◽  
Author(s):  
Daniel J. Smith ◽  
Emily Griffiths ◽  
Mark Kelly ◽  
Kerry Hood ◽  
Nick Craddock ◽  
...  

BackgroundBipolar disorder is complex and can be difficult to diagnose. It is often misdiagnosed as recurrent major depressive disorder.AimsWe had three main aims. To estimate the proportion of primary care patients with a working diagnosis of unipolar depression who satisfy DSM–IV criteria for bipolar disorder. To test two screening instruments for bipolar disorder (the Hypomania Checklist (HCL–32) and Bipolar Spectrum Diagnostic Scale (BSDS)) within a primary care sample. To assess whether individuals with major depressive disorder with subthreshold manic symptoms differ from those individuals with major depressive disorder but with no or little history of manic symptoms in terms of clinical course, psychosocial functioning and quality of life.MethodTwo-phase screening study in primary care.ResultsThree estimates of the prevalence of undiagnosed bipolar disorder were obtained: 21.6%, 9.6% and 3.3%. The HCL–32 and BSDS questionnaires had quite low positive predictive values (50.0 and 30.1% respectively). Participants with major depressive disorder and with a history of subthreshold manic symptoms differed from those participants with no or little history of manic symptoms on several clinical features and on measures of both psychosocial functioning and quality of life.ConclusionsBetween 3.3 and 21.6% of primary care patients with unipolar depression may have an undiagnosed bipolar disorder. The HCL–32 and BSDS screening questionnaires may be more useful for detecting broader definitions of bipolar disorder than DSM–IV-defined bipolar disorder. Subdiagnostic features of bipolar disorder are relatively common in primary care patients with unipolar depression and are associated with a more morbid course of illness. Future classifications of recurrent depression should include dimensional measures of bipolar symptoms.


2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Anastasiya Nestsiarovich ◽  
Jenna M. Reps ◽  
Michael E. Matheny ◽  
Scott L. DuVall ◽  
Kristine E. Lynch ◽  
...  

AbstractMany patients with bipolar disorder (BD) are initially misdiagnosed with major depressive disorder (MDD) and are treated with antidepressants, whose potential iatrogenic effects are widely discussed. It is unknown whether MDD is a comorbidity of BD or its earlier stage, and no consensus exists on individual conversion predictors, delaying BD’s timely recognition and treatment. We aimed to build a predictive model of MDD to BD conversion and to validate it across a multi-national network of patient databases using the standardization afforded by the Observational Medical Outcomes Partnership (OMOP) common data model. Five “training” US databases were retrospectively analyzed: IBM MarketScan CCAE, MDCR, MDCD, Optum EHR, and Optum Claims. Cyclops regularized logistic regression models were developed on one-year MDD-BD conversion with all standard covariates from the HADES PatientLevelPrediction package. Time-to-conversion Kaplan-Meier analysis was performed up to a decade after MDD, stratified by model-estimated risk. External validation of the final prediction model was performed across 9 patient record databases within the Observational Health Data Sciences and Informatics (OHDSI) network internationally. The model’s area under the curve (AUC) varied 0.633–0.745 (µ = 0.689) across the five US training databases. Nine variables predicted one-year MDD-BD transition. Factors that increased risk were: younger age, severe depression, psychosis, anxiety, substance misuse, self-harm thoughts/actions, and prior mental disorder. AUCs of the validation datasets ranged 0.570–0.785 (µ = 0.664). An assessment algorithm was built for MDD to BD conversion that allows distinguishing as much as 100-fold risk differences among patients and validates well across multiple international data sources.


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