Psychology of Mood Disorders, Suicide, and Therapy Techniques

Major depressive disorder (MDD):

Acute, but time-limited depressive symptoms lasting 2 weeks or more that significantly impact daily function.

Major depressive disorder: Gender differences

Women are twice as likely as men to suffer from

depression.

Comorbid depression and anxiety:

often result in increased functional impairment, slower recover, and higher rates of suicidal ideation than each disorder alone.

Bipolar I disorder:

Form of bipolar disorder in which the full symptoms of mania are experienced; depressive aspects may be more infrequent or mild.

Bipolar II disorder:

Only hypomanic episodes are experienced and the depressive component is more pronounced.

Hypomania:

Mania with less severe symptoms

Sex Differences (Suicide):

Women attempt more, but men die more often from suicide.

Suicidal Behavior:

Self-inflicted death with intent to die. Risk increases with mental disorders (like depression), stress, trauma, impulsivity, genetics, and low serotonin. Treatment includes therapy, medication, and crisis support; limiting access to guns can reduce risk.

Learned helplessness theory:

Uncontrollable negative events may lead people to feel helpless.

Cognitive-behavioral therapy.

Discover, understand, and change the negative, hopeless patterns of thinking.

• Help people solve concrete problems in their lives and develop skills for being more effective in their world.

Interpersonal and social rhythm therapy (ISRT):

Treatment for people with bipolar disorder that helps them manage their social relationships and daily rhythms to prevent relapse.

Selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRI's):

Drugs that affect both the serotonin system and the norepinephrine system and are used to treat anxiety and depression.

Bipolar I vs Bipolar II: Role of family history

First-degree relatives (parents, children, and siblings) of people with bipolar disorder have 5 to 10 times higher rates of both bipolar disorder and depressive disorders than relatives of people without bipolar disorder

Nonsuicidal self-injury:

Act of deliberately cutting, burning, puncturing, or otherwise significantly injuring one's skin with no intent to die.

Mania

Period of abnormality and persistently elevated or irritable

mood and goal-directed activity or energy lasting at least 1 week.

Family-focused therapy (FFT):

Reduces interpersonal stress in families

Suicide: Media influence

Suicide contagion often occurs when a suicide death that is widely publicized by the media results in increases in suicide rate