W1 T1 P1

• Affective disorders classification, causes, correlates, ways to understand them, and research methods are the topics to be covered.
• An introduction to theories and evidence around depression will then be studied.

Affective Disorders

• Mood disorders are also known as affective disorders.
• Affective disorders are conditions where a disturbance in an individual’s mood is the main characteristic.
• These conditions have neuropsychiatric components.
• Affective disorders are divided into two categories:
  • Depressed mood disorders like major depression disorder, clinical depression, unipolar depression, or major depression.
  • Bipolar disorder, formerly known as manic depression, involves cycling between depressed mood and elevated mood (mania or hypomania).

Classification Systems for Affective Disorder

• Clinicians and researchers use two systems for classifying affective disorders:
  • The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM), published by the American Psychiatric Association (APA).
• The International Classification of Diseases (ICD), produced by the World Health Organization (WHO).
• Classifications provide a standard language and criteria for medical health professionals to determine and communicate a patient’s diagnosis, categorize patients for research, and are used by health insurance, pharmaceutical companies, and the legal system.
• The DSM is the most popular diagnostic system for mental health disorders in the USA, the ICD is more widely used in Europe and other parts of the world.
• The DSM is currently in its 5th Edition (DSM-5).
• Older studies and lectures may reference previous editions of the DSM using Roman numerals.
• DSM-5 depressive disorders consist of: disruptive mood dysregulation disorder, major depressive disorder, persistent depressive disorder or dysthymia, pre-menstrual dysphoric disorder, substance or medication-induced depressive disorder, depressive disorder due to another medical condition, other specified depressive disorder, unspecified depressive disorder, and specifiers for depressive disorders.
• Bipolar disorders, as per the DSM, consist of: bipolar I, bipolar II, cyclothymic disorder, substance or medication-induced bipolar and related disorder, bipolar and related disorder due to another medical condition, other specified, unspecified, and specifiers for bipolar and related disorders.
• The ICD is currently in its 10th version (ICD-10) and covers health as a whole.
• Mental and behavioral disorder conditions are classified differently and consider mood or affective disorders as manic episode, bipolar disorder, major depressive disorder (single episode or recurrent), persistent mood or affective disorders, and unspecified mood or affective disorder.
• Comorbidities, additional diseases or disorders co-occurring with the main affective disorder, are common.
• Most patients also have anxiety disorders in addition to depression and/or bipolar conditions. Some consider anxiety as being a mood disorder.
• According to the DSM, subtypes of anxiety disorders include: separation anxiety disorder, selective mutism, specific phobias, social anxiety disorder (social phobia), panic disorder, panic attack specifier, agoraphobia, generalized anxiety disorder, substance or medication-induced anxiety disorder, and those due to another medical condition or other specified or unspecified anxiety disorders.
• In the ICD-10, anxiety is grouped with dissociative stress-related somatoform and other non-psychotic mental disorders, including phobic anxiety disorders or other anxiety disorders, obsessive-compulsive disorders, reaction to stress and adjustment disorders, dissociative and conversion disorders, somatoform disorders, and other non-psychiatric mental disorders.
• Mood disorders are serious conditions that cause suffering to patients and their families, can start at an early age, and are hard to diagnose in youth due to confusion with teenage behavior, drug use, or other psychiatric illnesses.
• Affective disorders negatively impact the patient’s quality of life and cause a considerable economic burden on individuals and society.
• Meta-analysis involving over 60,000 people found that depression is associated with a two-fold increase risk of dementia in older age.
• A cause produces an effect, result, or condition, while a correlate is a phenomenon that accompanies another phenomenon and is usually parallel to it.
• Many factors cause or correlate with affective disorders, including: stress, social support, childhood events, parents’ or grandparents’ experiences, socioeconomic status, work conditions, general health, diet, exercise, sleep, exposure to light, and the gut microbiome.

Explore affective disorders, their classification, causes, and research methods. The lesson covers depressed mood disorders like major depression and bipolar disorder. It also discusses the classification systems, including the DSM.