Mood Disorders

Question: What is the difference between mood disorders and depression? Is it that mood disorders aren't for long periods for time? Or is depression a subcategory of mood disorders

Answer: Depression is a category under the umbrella of mood disorders. Under the umbrella of mood disorders include some of these other disorders: Dsythymic Disorder - characterized by at least 2 years of depressed mood for more days than not, accompanied by additional depressive symptoms that do not meet criteria for Major Depressive Disorder. Bipolar I - characterized by one or more manic or mixed episodes, usually accompanied by Major Depressive Espisodes. Bipolar II - characterized by one or more Major Depressive Episodes accompanied by at least one Hypomanic Espisode Major Depressive Disorder - characterized by by one or more Major Depressive Episodes (i.e., at least 2 weeks of depressed mood or loss of interest accompanied by at least 4 additional symptoms of Depression). Depressive Disorder Not Otherwise Specified(NOS) - included for coding disorders with depressive features that do not meet criteria for Major Depressive Disorder, or one of the others listed. Other criteria for Major Depressive Disorder: significant weight loss when not dieting or weight gain or decrease in appetitenearly every day; insomnia or hypersomina nearly everyday; fatigue or loss of energy nearly every day; diminished ability to think or concentrate, or indecisiveness nearly every day. There are other criteria. These are just some of them.

Question: Mood Disorders? Describe the symptoms commonly associated with mood disorder according to the DSM-IV. How do the behaviors associated with mood disorder differ from similar behaviors considered normal in American culture? Also discuss ways in which this disorder is treated.

Answer: There are many mood disorders. Depression, anxiety, phobias & fears. Most are treated with anti-depressants and or psychotic drugs. Symptoms can vary. Mood swings, crying, suicidal thoughts, euphoria are a few. I have seen and experienced similar behaviors considered normal, depending who you are and what position you do in life. Example, Judge Judy on televison can yell and scream and treat people disrespectful & nothing will happen to her, but if I behave in that manner, people call the police. Is there a specific mood disorder you have in mind?

Question: Can someone help me by describing the causes of mood disorders? Describe the psychological and biological theories that attempt to explain the causes of mood disorders. Thanks!

Answer: Depends on your field thou. I'm a BIG believer in life experience as the cause of all mood disorders, I only make acception for chemical imbalance as a cause for sckzoprania, not the manic/depression disorder. Those are actually mostly caused by a breck down in an individuals natural needs to be addressed by society. So this causes a lot of conflict within the indivdual causing the chemical imbalance. So treat the conflicts, not the chemical imbalance is my understanding. That aside, were complex creatures and no one drug, or technique is going to help ever individiual. Espacially when you can't treat the real cause, society....

Question: Tips about working with children with mood disorders in the classroom? This summer, I will be an aide for a child (age 6) diagnosed with a mood disorder. Apparently, the doctors do not want to diagnose him with bipolar because he is too young, but this is the disorder that he essentially has. Does anyone have any suggestions on was to work with children with mood disorders? I am looking for ways to intervene when his anger is escalating before it gets out of hand. He has been known to be very disruptive and destructive when he is in one of his hiperactive stages. Any ideas?

Answer: Speak quietly and calmly with him. He is not too young to learn deep relaxation breathing, breathing from the tummy (I teach all my grandkids to do it, it really helps for everything, even scrapes and cuts that cause upset). So teach him to do that and then do it with him. If things are going too bad, take him outside for a walk. Try to learn his early signals and triggers, working one on one with him you will be a tremendous help to his teachers and his parents if you learn them...and you will. Challenge him a bit. Children with these disorders tend to be highly intelligent and they get bored easy, yet people will expect that he cannot do things, yet he can. A challenge will help to keep his mind occupied in a positive way.

Question: What are some mood disorders involving anger? Im doing my research paper on mood disorders but my teacher said that I need to narrow my topic, so I thought that I might do anger disorders. Now i'm having a hard time finding a anger problem or disease. Please help ASAP

Answer: autism, depression, bipolar, anxiety that's all i can think of good luck!

Question: Are there other mood disorders besides bipolar? I get mood swings a lott, but they only get extreme occasionally not all the time, I've had about one or two extreme happiness, a couple sad one, and one really mad one. All this happned in about 4 months. Are there other mood disorders w/names i could look up? Sorry I'm bad at explaining things.

Answer: You might want to look into BOTH forms of bipolar. There is type one and type two. One is a slightly less dramatic form, where you may be high and you may be low, but they are not aggressively swinging around (and they are not nearly as high or as low as the other form). And the other is the typical one that lots of people think of, with the mania and deep depressions. Really though, even between the four mood disorders (the ones the dude above me mentioned) there is so much variation that you could just have a combination or a different degree of one of the ones listed. Everyone is so different in that regard.

Question: How does society in general cause personality or mood disorders? please explain and discribe. are the two synonomous with each other ? personality and mood disorder? why and how so for your answer? Thanks for your answers!

Answer: the goverment control us in every way

Question: Where is the best free place to start an online forum dealing with depression and other mood disorders? So many are suffering with depression and other mood disorders that cause self mutilation in the form of cutting upon flesh, eating disorders and suicide. I presently have an online diary located at http://www.freeopendiary.com/entrylist.asp?authorcode=D636850 but I'd like to find some way to set readers up so they can network together for support and advice. Any ideas?

Answer: Well the guy with skullcross bones might not appreciate it, but I think its great that you are willing to reach out and work with other people. Social support groups work wonders whn dealing with depression. Just remember that nothing can compltely replace a doctor's care. Yahoo groups (access from yahoo.com) makes it easy to start and maintain a group. You might look and see if there is group that already exists that fits the bill...if not start one up! Best of luck!

Question: what are the best new treatments for angxiety and mood disorders? I am looking to see what are the best new treatments for anxiety and mood disorders I have tried every thing that I know of I have been on all kinds of medicene but nothing seems to help with it and is there any new treatments that may work stronger than the older treatments and that have fast results

Answer: I am a pharmacy technician and this is what I think: Benzodiazepines: are effective in reducing panic attacks and phobic behavior, as well as the anticipatory phase of panic attacks. Drugs in this class include clonazepam (Klonopin) , lorazepam (Ativan) , and alprazolam (Xanax) . While benzodiazepines act quickly, are effective, and are medically safe. Antidepressants: effective in treating panic disorder include Pamelor (nortryptyline), Norpramin (desipramine), and Anafranil (clomipramine). Tricyclics, unlike benzodiazepines, require only a single daily dose of medication. They are well studied and also help to guard against depression, which is often comorbid with panic disorder. Other medications include: fluoxetine (Prozac) sertraline (Zoloft) fluvoxamine (Faverin) paroxetine (Paxil) citalopram (Celexa) bupropion (Wellbutrin) venlafaxine (Effexor) imipramine (Tofranil) phenelzine (Nardil) trancypromine (Parnate) diazepam(Valium) Lexapro Hope that helps.

Question: What causes people to have anxiety & mood disorders? what can they do to fix it besides prescribed drugs? I have never been to a doctor to be diagnosed but I am almost positive I have some kind of anxiety or mood disorder. I'm not comfortable in certain settings (like being around half naked ppl or ppl who have too much skin showing), ect. whats puperdie? I am 20 years old

Answer: To solve this problem without medication, you have to do some "counter-conditioning". That means that you have to introduce yourself slowly to a condition or situation that you are uncomfortable with (let's says the half-naked people example) and develop a mental strategy to overcome it. For example, you might go into a situation where people are respectably dressed maybe in shorts and tank tops and see your reaction to them. If you are ok with that, go to the beach or watch beach movies that show some skin and see if you are ok with that. If the problem is when people are there right in front of you, choose to look them right in the eye or keep your gaze from the neck up (very difficult to do in that situation). The best thing, if you can, is to minimize your exposure to things that you are uncomfortable with and get yourself in more positive, appropriate surroundings. Depending on your situation, this may be difficult, but as an example going to a church youth or young adults group, you're not as likely to be as exposed to half-naked people as most groups like that won't allow it. That's just one example of counter-conditioning. Most of the problems that you have can be overcome with thought therapy - that is, step by step approaches to getting yourself used to different situations. A lot of these things will become much easier over time and with experience. Talk to your counselor at school and see if they can refer you to anyone that you can talk to. Church youth groups often have trained counselors and they are more than willing to help you. Good luck to you!