Mood disorders entail a wide array of mood problems such as bipolar disorder, depressive disorder, and dysthymic disorder. Research shows that over 20 million adults in America suffer from these mood disorders. Mood disorders are usually characterized by a distorted mood or emotional state, which interferes with your ability to function efficiently. You may experience combined feelings of sadness, emptiness, depression, and extreme happiness.
Mood disorders can be quite dangerous because they can increase the risk of committing suicide. It is for this and many other reasons that the awareness regarding mood disorders needs to be passed to as many people as possible. This article looks into the causes and types of mood disorders.
Causes of Mood Disorders?
The causes of mood disorders are hard to pinpoint. The main reason behind is that mood disorders are said to be caused by a combination of psychological, environmental, biological, and genetic factors. The theory linked to mood disorders entails neurotransmitters, which are chemicals in the brain that cause imbalances, which contribute to mood disorders. Despite this, this theory has been quite hard to verify.
Studies are still being conducted to identify the main cause of mood disorders. However, the major consensus is that mood disorders come about due to a combination of different factors working jointly. Mood disorders may also be hereditary, and this is the main reason why scientists are trying to identify a gene, which increases an individual’s risk of developing mood disorders. Brain research shows that the brains of individuals with mood disorders differ from those with healthy brains, meaning that brain development may have something to do with this condition.
Who is at Risk of Developing Mood Disorders?
Anyone can experience feelings of depression and sadness. However, mood disorders happen to be more intense and hard to manage. Children and even adults with a parent that has a mood disorder have more chances of also developing mood disorders. Despite this, stress and life events can make one develop feelings of depression and sadness. This makes mood disorders a lot harder to manage.
At times, life issues can trigger mood disorders. Getting a divorce, being fired from a job, death in the family, and financial issues are some other factors linked to mood disorders. The main reason behind this is that the aforementioned situations can be quite hard to deal with. The stress brought by these life events can make an individual feel sad and depressed, and thus cause mood disorders.
The risk of developing mood disorders in women is nearly twice as high as it is for men. Once an individual in the family has developed this condition, their children and siblings have a higher chance of being diagnosed with the same. Furthermore, relatives of individuals with mood disorders are also at a high risk for developing the condition.
Subtypes of Mood Disorders
There are two main subtypes of mood disorders and they include depression and bipolar disorder. This part of the article looks at this two conditions.
Depression
Depression is a very common mental disorder that can be caused by several factors such as sadness, grief, traumatic life events, loss of a job, or major illness. Nevertheless, if the depression continues for a prolonged period even when the stressful events are no more or there is no major cause, then physicians would automatically classify the depression to be a major case. Some major types of depression include persistent depressive disorder, postpartum disorder, and seasonal affective disorder.
Bipolar Disorder
Bipolar disorder is characterized by mood swings from periods of major sadness to mania. When an individual is experiencing low moods, the symptoms may be similar to those of a clinical depression. Such episodes may alternate with feelings of mania, where the individual feels elated or has increased activity levels. At the same time, the person may have feelings of irritability.
A mood disorder is a mental health condition that mainly affects an individual’s emotional state. This disorder is characterized by long periods of extreme sadness and happiness. Although it is normal for individuals to experience mood changes, mood disorder is diagnosed once an individual is unable to regulate the mood for a long period, usually several weeks. Since mood disorder can affect your behavior and inhibit your ability to deal with normal activities like work and school, it is good to handle this condition once it manifests itself. You should thus consider seeking medical attention from a professional to help you deal with mood disorders.