EMOTION

Emotion refers to a state of arousal that is

defined by subjective states of feeling,
such as sadness, anger, and disgust.
Emotions are often accompanied by
physiological changes, such as changes
in heart rate and respiration rate.
AFFECT

Affect refers to the pattern of observable

behaviors, such as facial expression,
that are associated with these subjective
feelings.
People also express affect through the
pitch of their voices and with their hand
and body movements
MOOD

Mood refers to a pervasive and sustained

emotional response that, in its extreme
form, can color the person’s perception
of the world
DEPRESSION

Depression can refer either to a mood or

to a clinical syndrome, a combination of
emotional, cognitive, and behavioral
symptoms.
The feelings associated with a depressed
mood often include disappointment and
despair.
clinical depression, a depressed mood is
accompanied by several other
symptoms, such as fatigue, loss of
energy, difficulty in sleeping, and
changes in appetite. Clinical depression
also involves a variety of changes in
thinking and overt behavior.
MANIA
Mania, the flip side of depression, also
involves a disturbance in mood that is
accompanied by additional symptoms.
Euphoria, or elated mood, is the opposite
emotional state from a depressed mood.
It is characterized by an exaggerated
feeling of physical and emotional well-
being (APA, 2000)
Manic symptoms that frequently
accompany an elated mood include
inflated self-esteem, decreased need for
sleep, distractibility, pressure to keep
talking, and the subjective feeling of
thoughts racing through the person’s
head faster than they can be spoken.
MOOD DISORDERS

Mood disorders are defined in terms of

episodes—discrete periods of time in
which the person’s behavior is
dominated by either a depressed or
manic mood.
TYPE

(1) those in which the person experiences

only episodes of depression, known as
unipolar mood disorder;
(2) those in which the person experiences
episodes of mania as well as
depression, known as bipolar mood
disorder.
Years ago, bipolar mood
disorder was known as
manic–depressive
disorder.
DEPRESSION VS SADNESS
The mood change is pervasive across situations and
persistent over time. The person’s mood does not
improve, even temporarily, when he or she engages in
activities that are usually experienced as pleasant.
The mood change may occur in the absence of any
precipitating events, or it may be completely out of
proportion to the per- son’s circumstances.
The depressed mood is accompanied by impaired ability to
function in usual social and occupational roles. Even
simple activities become overwhelmingly difficult.
The change in mood is accompanied by a cluster of additional
signs and symptoms, including cognitive, somatic, and
behavioral features.
The nature or quality of the mood change may be different
from that associated with normal sadness. It may feel
“strange,” like being engulfed by a black cloud or sunk in a
dark hole.
COGNITIVE SYMPTOMS
In addition to changes in the way people feel, mood
disorders also involve changes in the way people think
about themselves and their surroundings
Guilt and worthlessness are common preoccupations.
Depressed patients blame themselves for things that
have gone wrong, regardless of whether they are in
fact responsible.
They focus considerable attention on the most
negative features of themselves, their
environments, and the future—a combination
known as the “depressive triad” (Beck,
1967).
SOMATIC SYMPTOMS

The somatic symptoms of mood disorders

are related to basic physiological or
bodily functions. They include fatigue,
aches and pains, and serious changes in
appetite and sleep patterns.
BEHAVIORAL SYMPTOMS

The term psychomotor retardation refers to

several features of behavior that may
accompany the onset of serious
depression. The most obvious behavioral
symptom of depression is slowed
movement. Patients may walk and talk
as if they are in slow motion.
OTHER PROBLEMS

Alcoholism and depression are also closely

related phenomena. Many people who
are depressed also drink heavily, and
many people who are dependent on
alcohol—approximately 40 percent—have
experienced major depression at some
point during their lives
DIAGNOSIS

Unipolar Disorders
§ Major depressive a person must experience at
least one major depressive episode in the
absence of any history of manic episodes.
§ Dysthymia differs from major depression in
terms of both severity and duration. Dysthymia
represents a chronic mild depressive condition
that has been present for many years.
DEPRESSION DISORDERS

Onset of bipolar mood disorders usually

occurs between the ages of 18 and 22
years, which is younger than the average
age of onset for unipolar disorders
Women are two or three times more
vulnerable to depression than men are
(Kessler, 2006).
CAUSES
Social factors and unipolar Disorders
§ Stressful live events
§ Several investigations have explored the
relationships between stressful life events
and the development of unipolar mood
disorders. Do people who become clinically
depressed actually experience an increased
number of stressful life events?
Social Factors and Bipolar Disorders
§ Most investigations of stressful life events
have been concerned with unipolar
depression. Less attention has been paid to
bipolar mood disorders, but some have
found that the weeks preceding the onset of
a manic episode are marked by an
increased frequency of stressful life events
(Miklowitz & Johnson, 2009).
PSYCHOLOGICAL FACTORS
Cognitive Vulnerability Cognitive theories concerning
the origins of unipolar depression are based on
the recognition that humans are not only social
organisms, they are also thinking organisms, and
the ways in which people perceive, think about,
and remember events in their world can have an
important influence on the way that they feel. Two
people may react very differently to the same
event, in large part because they may interpret
the event differently.
Various types of distortions, errors, and biases are
characteristic of the thinking of depressed
people. One is the tendency to assign global,
personal meaning to experiences of failure.
One cognitive approach to depression is focused
on the importance of maladaptive schemas,
which are general patterns of thought that guide
the ways in which people perceive and interpret
events in their environment.
BIOLOGICAL FACTORS
Genetic
§ Genetic factors are clearly involved in the trans- mission
of mood disorders (Lau & Eley, 2010). Studies that
support this conclusion also suggest that bipolar
disorders are much more heritable than unipolar
disorders.
Neuroendocrine system
§ Various kinds of central nervous system events are
associated with the connection between stressful life
events and major depression.
Brain Imaging Studies
§ The brain circuits that are involved in the
experience and control of emotion are complex,
centering primarily on the limbic system and its
connections to the prefrontal cortex and the
anterior cingulate cortex. Brain imaging studies
indicate that severe depression is often associated
with abnormal patterns of activity as well as
structural changes in various brain regions
Neurotransmitters
§ Communication and coordination of information
within and between areas of the brain depend on
neurotransmitters, chemicals that bridge the gaps
between individual neurons
§ Serotonin is the chemical messenger that is
enhanced by medications such as Prozac. It has a
profound effect on a per- son’s mood, with higher
levels being associated with feelings of serenity
and optimism
TREATMENT
Cognitive Therapy
§ The cognitive model assumes that emotional dysfunction is
influenced by the negative ways in which people interpret
events in their environments and the things that they say to
themselves about those experiences. Based on the
assumption that depression will be relieved if these
maladaptive schemas are changed, cognitive therapists
focus on helping their patients replace self-defeating
thoughts with more rational self- statements (Dobson, 2008;
Garratt et al., 2007).
Interpersonal Therapy
§ Interpersonal therapy is another contemporary approach to
the psychological treatment of depression (Bleiberg &
Markowitz, 2008; Weissman, Markowitz, & Klerman, 2000).
It is focused primarily on current relation- ships, especially
those involving family members. The therapist helps the
patient develop a better understanding of the inter- personal
problems that presumably give rise to depression and
attempts to improve the patient’s relationships with other
people by building communication and problem-solving
skills.
MEDICATION