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Affective Disorders: Depression, Mania and Bipolar Disorder
Objectives:
Understand the different affective disorders
Concepts to Learn
Unipolar disorder
Bipolar disorder
Mania
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1.1.Depression
Objectives:
Understand the different affective disorders
Concepts to Learn
Definition of depression
Unipolar disorder
Dysphoric moods of depression
Symptoms of depression
Seasonal affective disorder (SAD)
Treatment of SAD
Suicidal risks
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Q&A
What are the essential features of depression?
The characteristics features of depression are:
that last more than two weeks.
Depression can be normal if it does not interfere with daily functioning, and if it does not last for a long duration. Depression is a natural response to the loss of anything that is considered as valuable, such as loss of loved ones, loss of possession and loss of achieved goals.
The depressive episodes often recur in major depression throughout the lifetime. Major depression often last for 7 - 14 months. Most often, depression comes in episodes, patients can recover by themselves without therapy or medication, but medication can often reduce the duration of depressive state so it can improve the quality of life.
What are the psychological factors that can lead to depression?
It is an affective state of sadness in response to the loss valuable, such as:
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loss of loved ones
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loss of possessions
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loss of achieved goals
It is the loss of anything that is considered as valuable to the sufferer, which often leads to depression. If they are not considered as valuable, even if they are lost, it does not always lead to depression. Thus, it is the perspective of how things are viewed that can affect the outcome of the affective state psychologically.
Note that a person can become depressed even without any of the above psychological stress because depression can be inherited genetically, just like any other mental disorders.
What are the characteristics of psychological state in depression?
The characteristics are:
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hopelessness
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helplessness
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worthlessness
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guilt (possibly).
Depression is characterized by the sense of hopelessness and helplessness. The feeling of hopeless (nothing will improve) often leads to helplessness (inability to affect/change the outcomes) and worthlessness (diminished self-worth). The hopeless and helpless feelings often lead to the sense of despair and sadness.
The sense of guilt in depression is debatable because guilt is externally imposed rather than internally generated. Depressive mood is an internal emotion caused by unresolved internal conflicts rather than externally imposed guilt. Guilt is essentially a manipulation ploy used by others to make a person do something they don’t want to, creating a sense of guilt to coerce them into compliance. Unless a person bought into the external manipulation ploy, depression is usually not caused by such external pressure.
What are the mood states of depression?
The mood states are:
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dysphoria
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sadness
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despair
Dysphoria is the opposite of euphoria. It is the unpleasant feeling and/or the inability to experience any emotions or pleasure. The feeling of sadness is often associated with the sense of loss of things that are valuable to the person. The sense of despair in depression is the emotional state in depression that nothing can be done...
