Module 5.4b - Stress: Depressive Disorders

Depressive Disorders

Characterized by a sad, empty or irritable mood, and physical/cognitive changes that affect functioning.

Major Depressive Disorder

A mood disorder in which a person experiences, in the absence of drugs or a medical condition, two or more weeks of significantly depressed moods, feelings of worthlessness, and diminished interest or pleasure in most activities.

Persistent Depressive Disorder

Also known as dysthymia, chronic depression with 2+ symptoms that are milder than those of severe depression but are present on a majority of days for two or more years.

Bipolar Disorder

A mood disorder in one experiences both manic and depressed episodes.

Mania

Episodes of hyperactive and mildly optimistic, impulsive behavior.

Biological Perspective

Views causal of depression due to predispositions, brain structure/functional abnormality, and nutritional/drug effects.

Social-Cognitive Perspective

Views causal of depression due to an ongoing cycle of stressful experiences, interpreted through negative beliefs, attributions, and memory/rumination.

Rumination

Overthinking our problems and their causes, compulsive fretting.

Bipolar 1 Disorder

The most severe form of bipolar disorder, where people experience an euphoric, talkative, highly energetic, and overly ambitious state that lasts a week or longer. Rapid cycling through stages.

Bipolar 2 Disorder

A less severe form of bipolar in which people move between depression and a milder hypomania.

Hypomania

Periods of abnormally elevated, extreme changes in arousal or emotions.

Linkage Analysis

A method used to understand the relationship between behavior and events that lead to a specific action or outcome.

Self-defeating beliefs

Intensely negative assumptions about themselves, their situations, and their futures lead them to magnify bad experiences and minimize good ones.

Negative Explanatory Style

The tendency to blame unfortunate circumstances on oneself and see problems as enduring.

State-Dependent Memory

Memory that is aided or impeded by a person's internal state.