Abnormal Psychology - Chapter 7: Mood Disorders and Suicide

A set of vocabulary flashcards covering key terms, specifiers, neuroanatomical structures, cognitive models, bipolar spectrum diagnoses, and treatments from Chapter 7: Mood Disorders and Suicide.

Depression

A key mood involved in mood disorders that features feelings of extraordinary sadness and dejection.

Mania

A key mood involved in mood disorders characterized by intense and unrealistic feelings of excitement and euphoria.

Unipolar Depressive Disorder

A type of mood disorder in which a person experiences only depressive episodes.

Bipolar Disorder

A type of mood disorder in which a person experiences both depressive and manic episodes.

Depressive Episode

A period in which a person is markedly depressed or loses interest in formerly pleasurable activities for at least 2 weeks.

Manic Episode

A period of markedly elevated, expansive, or irritable mood lasting for at least 4 days.

Hypomanic Episode

An abnormally elevated, expansive, or irritable mood for at least 4 days, accompanied by at least 3 other symptoms similar to those involved in mania.

Relapse

The return of symptoms of depression within a fairly short period of time.

Recurrence

The onset of a new episode of depression, occurring in about 40 to 50 percent of individuals who experience a depressive episode.

Major Depressive Episode with Melancholic Features

A specifier for major depression that includes loss of interest, lack of reactivity to usually pleasurable stimuli, early morning awakening, depression worse in the morning, marked psychomotor agitation, loss of appetite or weight, excessive guilt, or qualitatively different depressed mood.

Major Depressive Episode with Psychotic Features

A severe major depressive episode accompanied by psychotic symptoms such as delusions or hallucinations (usually mood congruent), with feelings of guilt and worthlessness being common.

Major Depressive Episode with Atypical Features

A depressive episode specifier characterized by mood reactivity (brightening to positive events) and two or more of: weight gain/increased appetite, hypersomnia, leaden paralysis, or acute sensitivity to interpersonal rejection.

Major Depressive Episode with Catatonic Features

A depressive episode specifier that includes a range of psychomotor symptoms from motoric immobility to extensive psychomotor activity, as well as mutism and rigidity.

Major Depressive Episode with Seasonal Pattern

Criteria requiring at least 2 episodes of depression in the past 2 years at the same time of year (usually fall or winter), with full remission at the same time (usually spring), and no nonseasonal episodes in the same 2-year period.

Persistent Depressive Disorder

A disorder characterized by a persistently depressed mood most of the day, for more days than not, for at least 2 years.

Double Depression

A condition in which a person is moderately depressed on a chronic basis but undergoes increased problems from time to time, during which they also meet the criteria for a major depressive episode.

Postpartum "Blues"

Symptoms occurring in up to 50 to 70 percent of women within 10 days of giving birth, including changeable mood, crying easily, sadness, and irritability intermixed with happy feelings.

Brain Regions Involved in Affect and Mood Disorders

Key brain regions including (1) orbital prefrontal cortex and ventromedial prefrontal cortex, (2) dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, (3) hippocampus and amygdala, and (4) anterior cingulate cortex.

Beck's Cognitive Model of Depression

A cognitive model proposing that early experiences lead to dysfunctional assumptions that leave a person vulnerable; critical stressors activate these assumptions, triggering automatic thoughts that produce depressive symptoms, which further fuel negative automatic thoughts.

Negative Cognitive Triad

Aaron Beck's concept of negative automatic thoughts centered on three domains: The Self ("I'm ugly/worthless/a failure"), The Future ("It's all hopeless because things will always be this way"), and The World ("No one loves me").

Cyclothymic Disorder

A condition involving the repeated experience of hypomanic symptoms for a period of at least 2 years, lacking the extreme mood and behavior changes seen in full mania or major depression.

Bipolar I Disorder

A form of bipolar disorder distinguished from major depressive disorder by the presence of full-blown mania and alternating or intermixed periods of depression.

Bipolar II Disorder

A form of bipolar disorder in which a person experiences periods of hypomania (below threshold for full-blown mania) and periods of depressed mood that meet criteria for major depression.

Mixed Episode

An episode characterized by symptoms of both manic and major depressive episodes for at least 1 week, either intermixed or alternating rapidly every few days.

Manic-Depressive Spectrum

A spectrum of mood variations ranging from normal mood variation to cyclothymic personality, cyclothymic disorder, bipolar II disorder, unipolar mania, and bipolar I disorder.

Nonsuicidal Self-Injury (NSSI)

Direct, deliberate destruction of body tissue in the absence of any intent to die.

Crisis Intervention

An immediate short-term therapy aimed at helping a person cope with an acute crisis by maintaining supportive contact, addressing distorted situational assessment, and emphasizing that present distress is temporary.

Monoamine Oxidase Inhibitors (MAOIs)

The first category of antidepressant medications, introduced in the 1950s.

Tricyclic Antidepressants (TCAs)

The drug treatment of choice for depression from the 1960s to the early 1990s, later replaced due to problematic side effects.

Selective Serotonin Re-uptake Inhibitors (SSRIs)

A modern class of antidepressant medications prescribed to minimize the unwanted side effects associated with tricyclics.

Lithium

A widely studied mood-stabilizing medication used primarily to treat manic episodes in bipolar disorder.

Electroconvulsive Therapy (ECT)

An alternative biological treatment often used for severely depressed patients at immediate suicidal risk; main side effects include confusion, amnesia, and slowed response time.

Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (TMS)

A noninvasive focal brain stimulation technique for awake patients, shown to be more effective than antidepressants without the side effects of ECT.

Deep Brain Stimulation (DBS)

A treatment approach for refractory depression involving implanting an electrode in the brain and stimulating that area with an electrical current.

Bright Light Therapy

A treatment approach originally used for seasonal affective disorder that has also been shown to be effective in nonseasonal depressions.

Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy (CBT)

A psychotherapy focusing on present problems that teaches patients to systematically evaluate their dysfunctional beliefs and negative automatic thoughts.

Behavioral Activation Treatment

A unipolar depression treatment aiming to increase levels of positive reinforcement and reduce avoidance and withdrawal.

Interpersonal Therapy (IPT)

A psychotherapy that focuses on current relationship issues, helping patients understand and change maladaptive interaction patterns.