Mood Disorders (Coursework Sample)

Mood Disorders
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Question One
Discuss unipolar mood disorders including dysthymic disorder and major depressive disorder.
Unipolar is having one pole or one extreme of mood-depressed mood. Unipolar mood disorder is mostly expressed as a major depressive disorder that is also called major depression. Dysthymic disorder or dysthymia is also seen as a unipolar mood disorder. Major depressive disorder is a serious clinical mood disorder. Major depression affects different people in different ways. Some have trouble sleeping, some people may lose weight, and they have a feeling of being agitated and irritable. Others may function reasonably well at work and may put on a "happy face" before others, while deep down they feel very depressed and disinterested in living. There is no specific way that people appear or behave when they have major depression. However, most of the people will have either a depressed mood or a general loss of interest things they once enjoyed, or a combination of both.
The exact cause of the major depressive disorder is not well known, however most researchers believe it may be linked with chemical changes in the brain, inherited genes, or both. Alcohol and drug abuse may also play a role in the major depressive disorder, as also can other medical conditions such as the under-active thyroid and some types of cancer. Major depressive disorder may also be triggered by stressful events in one’s life. These events may include, job loss, divorce or separation, failing exams at school, death or illness of a family member or a friend, physical or emotional abuse, social isolation and many others.
Dysthymic disorder, on the other hand, occur when people affected experience very little or no joy at all in their lives. Most of the time they see things to be rather gloomy. People with dysthymia may be unable to remember any particular time when they felt happy, excited or inspired. They seem like having been depressed their entire life. They have a hard time having fun and enjoying things. They are so inactive and withdrawn, they worry most of the time and criticize themselves as being failures. (Mooney, C. 2011).
Question Two
Discuss several bipolar disorders and differentiate them from unipolar disorders.
Bipolar disorders involve having mania apart from just being depressed. Mania is having high moods where a person may experience increased energy, he or she may feel euphoria, inability to sleep, or impulsive behaviors like going on shopping sprees or having promiscuous sex. The bipolar disorder types are differentiated by the frequency, length and pattern of mania episodes and depression. First is bipolar I disorder, it is characterized by mixed episodes of mania and major depressive episodes. Both symptoms of mania and depression occur nearly every day for at least a week. It is the most severe illness marked by extreme manic episodes.
Second is the bipolar II disorder that is a milder form of mood elevation; it involves milder episodes of hypomania that alternates with periods of major depressive episodes. Because of the mildness of hypomania in Bipolar II, it is sometimes misdiagnosed as a major depressive disorder if hypomanic episodes are unrecognized or unreported. Also, there is Cyclothymia, which is also a milder form of bipolar disorder. It is characterized by several hypomanic episodes but has less severe episodes of depression that alternate for at least two years. Lastly is the Rapid Cycling, this type of bipolar disorder is diagnosed when a person has four or more manic, hypomanic, or major depressive episodes in any period of 12 months. Rapid cycling may occur with any bipolar disorder, it may be a temporary condition for some people.
For the differences between bipolar depression and unipolar depression people who say they are being treated for depression usually refer to unipolar depression. The differences are in how the illness makes people feel and behave. There is also a difference in how the people are supported through treatment. As seen earlier people having bipolar go through mood swings, this is not the case with people having unipolar depression. Someone with unipolar doesn’t go through the "highs" of bipolar depression. Unipolar is characterized by low moods only.
Question Three
Describe examples of the listed categories of treatment for mood disorders.
To start with is Pharmacotherapy as a category of treatment for mood disorders. This is a method is where descriptive drugs are used to treat mood disorders. One of the drug used under pharmacotherapy to treat mood disorders are atypical antidepressants. These drugs have been found to be effective in treating major depressive disorder and are used in combination with therapy for difficult to treat depression. The administration of the drugs should be professional for it to be effective, it also helps in minimizing side effects that may come as a result of the drugs (Muñoz, R. 1984).
Psychotherapy is also a category of treating mood disorders. It is usually the most form of treatment recommended for depression. Under this category, we have several methods in which it is done. Psychotherapy involves talking to an expert who will help in treatment. One method used here is the Cognitive behavior therapy; it is a treatment that is psychologically structures for the therapist to recognize how a person's way of thinking and acting affects the way he or she feels. It is seen as one of the best and most effective ways of treating depression. It is also useful to a wide range of people, ranging from children to adolescents, to adults and older people (Langwith, J. (2009). The professional therapist tries to identify the patterns of behavior and thought that may be making the patient become likely depressed, or preventing them from improving after they becom...