Diagnostic cirteria for mood disorders

describe unipolar depressive disorder

• characterised by depressive mood (feeling sad, irritable, empty) or loss of pleasure

• accompanied by other symptoms that affect individuals ability to function such as difficulty concentrating, excessive feelings of worthlessness, guilt, reoccurring thoughts of death, changes to sleep and eating patters

• a diagnosis of depressive disorder can only be made if individual has never experienced manic or hypomanic episodes

• a single episode depressive episode is characterised by 1 episode without history of previous ones

• recurrent depressive disorder is diagnosed when there is atleast two depressive episodes seperratred by several months or more without significant mood disturbance

what is a depressive episode?

• A period of at least 2 weeks involving depressed mood or lack of interest in usual activities for most the day nearly every day

• other symptoms may include changes to sleep and appetite, feelings of worthlessness, guilt, hopelessness, suicidal thoughts and difficulty concentrating

what is a manic episode?

• a period of atleast a week where mood is extremely high

• usually feeling euphoric but also irritable and involves high lvls of activity and feelings of increased energy

• individuals may show rapid speech, impulsivity, reckless behaviour & extremely high self esteem

• rapid changes between mood states

what is a hypomanic episode?

• a less extreme version of a manic episode involving several days of persistent elevated mood or increased irritability

• along with increased activity or energy lvls

• behaviours shown will be lesser versions of those in a manic episode, symptoms will be significantly different to normal but wont cause marked impairment to functioning

what is a mixed episode?

• period of at least two weeks where there’s a mix of manic and depressive states

• mixture or rapid alternating btwn manic & depressive states on most days

What is Bipolar disorder?

• episodic mood disorder characterised by episodes of moods being either very high or very low

• there are two types : type 1 and type 2 ; distinct to eachother due to types of mood episodes

How is type 1 bipolar disorder characterised?

• defined by occurrence of atleast on mixed or manic epidsode

• Moor often manic or mixed episodes alternate with depressive episodes over time

How is type 2 bipolar disorder characterised?

• defined by occurrence of one or more hypomanic episodes and at least one depressive episode

• there also must be no history of manic or mixed episodes

Describe BDI (becks depression inventory)

• common way depressive disorder is measured by healthcare professionals and is the most widely used tool for detecting depressive disorder

• form of psychometric testing(measure personality traits, emotional states or other experiences using sets of questions and numerical scales) asses attitudes & symptoms of depressive disorder.

• 21 item self report where ppts are required to select out of 4 statements (0-3) which best fits how they’ve been feeling during a recent period of time depending version being used

• total score is used to determine severity of the disorder ; 10 is minimum for diagnosing mild depression, 19-29 moderate depression, 30 or more indicates severe depression

• since initial introduction its been updated twice so we use the new one in 1996 BDI-11. it has same structure as the original but includes symptoms of increased appetite, loss of appetite and fatigue