PSYC 372 Unit 7

Mood/Emotion/Affect (feelings)

Subjective self-evaluations with physiological processes and cognitie components

Mood

refers to longer-lasting and simpler feeling states
- Ex: I was in a bad mood, but then my friend surprised me by stopping by my dorm.

Emotions

quicker/shorter feeling states with more specificity
- Ex: How long can you be surprised?

Effect and Affect

• Effect

  • (noun) = impact, (verb) = to bring about

• Effective

  • (Adjective) = successful

• Affect

  • (Noun) = emotion, (verb) = to have an impact

• Affective

  • (adjective) = emotional

Abnormal Moods

• Depressive Mood = too low/negative in terms of valence or level of pleasure

• Manic Mood = too high/elevated in terms of arousal or activation

Manic Episode

• Lasts at least 1 week (or any amount of time if hospitalization is needed)

• Abnormally and persistently elevated, expansive, or irritable mood

• Less need for sleep (e.g., rested after 3 hours), increased goal-orientation, grandiosity, racing thoughts

• Marked impairment and/or psychosis

Hypomanic Episode

• Lasts at least 4 days
• Similar to manic but less severe
• Detrimental, but not markedly impairing, no psychosis, no hospitalization

Major Depressive Episode

• Over a 2-week period, includes depressed mood and/or loss of pleasure
• Weight, sleep, and psychomotor variations
• Decreased energy, concentration
• Thoughts of death and/or suicidality

Major Depressive Disorder

• Includes a depressive episode
• Specify single episode or recurrent
• 12-month prevalence of 7%
• Lifetime prevalence approximately 17%

Specify:
• Mild / Moderate / Severe / With Psychotic Features
• Single Episode / Recurrent Episode
• with: anxious distress, mixed features, melancholic features, atypical features, catatonia, peripartum onset, or seasonal pattern

Persistent Depressive Disorder (Dysthymia)

A: depressed mood most of the day, more days than not, for at least 2 years
B: presence, while depressed, of at least 2 of the following:
1) poor appetite or overeating, 2) insomnia or hypersomnia, 3) low energy or fatigue, 4) low self-esteem, 5) poor concentration or indecision, 6) hopelessness
C: during the two years, criteria A and B never cease longer than 2 months
D: criteria for MDD may be present for two years (but not necessarily)
E: never a manic or hypomanic episode or criteria met for Cyclothymia
F: not better explained by other disorders or G: substances / medical issues
H: clinically significant distress/impairment (plus numerous specifiers like MDD)

• Less severe than MDD or similar
• 12-month prevalence of 2%

Bipolar I Disorder

• Requires a manic episode
• Likely includes depressive episodes
• 12-month prevalence of 0.6%
Specify:
• Severity: Mild / Moderate / Severe
• Most recent episode is: manic / hypomanic / depressive / unspecified
• With: psychotic features / partial remission / full remission

Bipolar II Disorder

A: client had at least 1 lifetime hypomanic episode and 1 major depressive episode
B: there has never been a manic episode
C: presence of mood episodes is not better explained by other disorders
D: mood episodes cause clinically significant distress and impairment
Specify:
• Severity: Mild / Moderate / Severe
• Most recent episode is: hypomanic / depressive
• With: psychotic features / partial remission / full remission

Cyclothymic Disorder

• Neither full depressive nor full manic episodes
• Mood fluctuation over at least 2 years
• Lifetime prevalence approximately 0.7%
C: never had a depressive, hypomanic, or manic episode meeting full criteria
D: symptoms not better explained by another disorder
E: symptoms not attributable to substances or medical issues
F: clinically significant distress / impairment

What is the 5HTTLPR gene?

the serotonin-transporter gene is a moderator of the relationship between
stress and depressive outcomes, but not a clear independent causal factor

Is seasonal depression real?

Not necessarily, the idea is deeply rooted in “folk psychology”

What is postpartum depression?

It’s a misnomer and an example of the nominal fallacy

Learned Helplessness Theory

• Researchers in the behaviorism tradition wondered whether depressive episodes were caused by facing too many losses/setbacks/failures; in other words, being taught to give up.
• Specifically hypothesized that a series of failed efforts would train one to give up, become “helpless,” and thus experience depression.

Reformulated Helplessness Theory

• Researchers in the cognitivism tradition took the helplessness theory and incorporated the importance of thinking styles.
• Specifically hypothesized that those with depressive attributions (i.e., interpretations of and explanations for events) would be more susceptible to depressive mood episodes

Types of Attributions

• vary by locus of control:
  • Internal – “this was all my fault”
  • External – “it was my boss’ fault!”

• vary by specificity:
  • Global – “I suck at everything”
  • Specific – “I struggled on that particular task”

• vary by stability:
  • Stable – “I’ll always fail at this”
  • Unstable – “I can improve if I keep trying”

Negative Cognitive Triad

Specific finding in the cognition mood research shows depressed people tend to have negative thoughts centering on the following:
• the self
• the world
• the future

Hopelessness Theory of Depression

• Argues that hopelessness is a sufficient cause for depressive episodes
• They argue that pessimistic attributional style and negative life events are inadequate to cause depression, unless a state of hopelessness also occurred
• According to this theory, hopelessness =
- individual believes they have no control over outcomes which will be certainly bad

Suicide

• Suicide risk is a significant factor in all mood disorders

• Suicide ranks among top ten causes of death

Suicide is now commonly referenced in terms of attempted suicide and
completed suicide rather than using terms such as “committed” which can
have a blaming and criminalizing tone.

Suicide Trends

• Demographically speaking, who attempts suicide?
  • ages 18 to 24 make the most attempts
  • women are three times as likely as men to attempt
  • divorced / separated individuals are at higher risk
  

• Demographically speaking, who completes suicide?
  • ages 65 and older are most likely to complete
  • men are far more likely to complete suicide than women
  • divorced / widowed and those with progressive/terminal illnesses are at higher risk
  

• Why the gender difference in attempts/completions..?
  • boils down to differences in method: men more likely to use guns/hangings, women more likely to use drug overdose, drowning, or cutting—more room for error or to change mind

Suicide History

Interestingly (sadly), suicide rates for ages 15-24 tripled between 1950 and 1980

Assessing Suicide-related thoughts

• Assess Suicide-Related Thoughts (i.e., suicidal ideation)
  • Determine whether passive or active
  > thoughts of purposely killing oneself => active
  > thoughts of dying unintentionally or by others’ actions => passive
  • Determine level of lethal intent
  • ranging from true desire to die to vague desire to leave/escape

• Behaviors
  • Have they begun to prepare things, scope out suicide site, or collect necessary materials?
  • Have they begun to seek closure, write notes, or make amends?

• Plan
  • Is a plan in place, and if so, how specific?
  • Do they have means to carry out plan? (e.g., if plan is to shoot oneself, do they own a gun?)

Which sentence is correct if you’re trying to say that your upcoming weekend plans will help you relax and feel emotionally good?

a. I expect that the weekend will have a positive effect on my affect.

What are the two key moods involved in mood disorders?

Mania and depression

How does Dysthymia compare to Major Depressive Disorder?

d. Dysthymia is much longer-lasting, and often milder, than MDD.

Thinking of the Circumplex Model of Emotions, we could argue that _____ is the key component of depressive episodes, while _____ is the key component of manic episodes.

Negative Valence; Arousal

In Beck’s “Negative Cognitive Triad” theory of depressive cognitions, what are the three components of individuals’ negative thoughts?

the world, the self, the future

Which demographic has the highest rates of completed suicides?

men ages 65 and older

Imagine that someone is in a car accident, and thinks to himself “this is all my fault, I’m bad at everything, and it’ll never get any better.” How would you analyze that cognitive attribution
according to the Reformulated Helplessness Theory?

internal, global, stable

Matching) The three bipolar disorders are similar in that they each deal with mood abnormalities, particularly involving fluctuation from highs to lows. However, according to DSM-5 diagnostic
standards, there are some factors which distinguish them from one another. Match the appropriate diagnostic label to the correct description below using the term bank (each will be used once only).

a. Bipolar I b. Bipolar II c. Cyclothymia d. Dysthymia
_____This disorder includes hypomanic episodes. B
_____This disorder is NOT one of the bipolar disorders. D
_____This disorder includes full-blown manic episodes (i.e., severe, possible hospitalization). A
_____This disorder includes long-term (over 2 years) milder cycles from low to high moods. C