Chapter 5 - Mood Disorders

Major Depressive Disorder (MDD)

Severely low mood and experiencing anhedonia

How do physicians diagnose patients with MDD

Symptoms must persist for a minimum of 2 weeks including severly low mood and adjuctive symptoms

Adjunctive symptoms for MDD

sense of guilt, changes in appetite, sleep disturbance, low energy, poor concentration, thoughts of death, etc.

Bereavement exclusion 

Depressive symptoms stemming from loss of loved ones was not deemed major depression 

Controversy of new DSM-V on MDD

May be medicalizing grief or loss and lead to over-treatment

Persistent Depressive Disorder

Less intense version of MDD but is over a period of 2 or more years

Symptoms of Persistent Depressive Disorder

Feeling low, limited/excess appetite, sleep disruption, lethargy, general sense of failure 

Premenstrual Dysphoris Disorder (PMDD)

A significantly distressing form of premenstrual syndrome (PMS)

PMDD Symptoms

changing mood, irritability, appetite change during the luteal phase

Disruptive Mood Dysregulation Disorder (DMDD)

Children who exhibit behaviours such as extreme anger or irritability in situations where it is considered unwarranted

Controversy behind DMDD

• Medicalizes what may be normal phases of emotional development among children and youth 

• Majority diagnosed with DMDD also match symptoms of oppositional defiant disorder 

• Children diagnosed with DMDD are likely treated with antipsychotic medication

Bipolar disorder

Epdisodes of mania and episodes of depression, previously termed “manic depression”

Define mania and depression