Mood affective disorders

• DEPRESSION/ UNIPOLAR

  A low depressive mood. They feel worthless, recurrent thoughts of death + change to sleeping/eating patterns

  Only diagnosed if never experienced manic, mixed or hypomanic episode
• BIPOLAR

  • Manic Ep: mood is extremely high and euphoric like
  • Mixed Ep: mix of manic and depressive states
  • Hypomanic Ep: less extreme version of manic ep involves elevated mood or easily irritable
  • Depressive EP: lasts at least 2 weeks involves depressed mood or lack of interest in usual activities for most of the day every day
• Types of Bipolar

  • Type 1 – occurrence of manic episode that lasts a week
  • Or occurrence of mixed episode that lasts 2 weeks
  • Type 2: occurrence of 1 or more hypomanic ep and at least one depressive episode
• Biological - Biochemical explanations

  • 2 main neurotransmitters responsible
  • Dopamine
  • Serotonin
• Dopamine


  Responsible for feelings of motivation and pleasure, if low levels results in low mood and lack of motivation
• Serotonin


  Responsible for sleep regulation, mood and appetite, when levels are normal mood + anxiety are balanced, if low levels results in low mood, anxiety, lack of sleep + appetite
• Genetic Explanation

  First degree relatives share 50% of DNA – like physical illnesses mental disorders are thought to have a genetic basis = can be passed from one generation to the next
• Psychological Explanation

  • BECK's COGNITIVE THEORY
  • Seligman – learned helplessness + attribution style
• BECK's COGNITIVE THEORY


  Believes that the negative views someone holds with depression become a reality for that person, the reason for the low mood is due to incorrect info processing, COGNITIVE DISTORTION - seeing things negatively – Develops as a result of neg experiences as a child leading to schemas (expecting things to turn out badly)
• Learned helplessness


  A state that occurs because of a person having to endure an unpleasant situation when they perceive the unpleasantness as inescapable, they learn that they are unable to control the situation and prevent suffering, so they eventually stop trying to resist it
• Attribution style


  The way in which a person explains the causes of behaviour – those with neg AS will view things as internal, stable and global – it is there fault, it will stay this way and more things will go wrong
• Biological Treatments- Anti depressants


  • TRI-CYCLICS
  • MONOAMINE OXIDASE INHIBITORS
  • SELECTIVE SEROTONINE REPUTAKE INHIBITORS (SRRIs)
• TRI-CYCLICS


  Work by increasing levels of serotonin and norepinephrine in the brain by stopping them from being reabsorbed, tend to have a lot of side effects compared to more modern AD'S (drowsiness, blurred vision)
• MONOAMINE OXIDASE INHIBITORS

  Inhibit the work of an enzyme that is responsible for breaking down and removing dopamine, serotonin and norepinephrine - allowing levels to remain high, side effects include causing issues with withdrawal and if interacts with other meds can lead to high blood pressure, only used when other AD'S don't work
• SELECTIVE SEROTONINE REPUTAKE INHIBITORS (SRRIs)

  Stop serotonin from being reabsorbed and broken down once crossed synapse in the brain – means level of seotonin are increased in the brain and reduces depressive symptoms, most commonly used, tend to have fewer and less severe side effects
• Psychological Treatments


  • BECKS COGNITIVE RESTRUCTUIRING
  • Ellis rational emotive behaviour therapy (REBT)
• BECKS DEPRESSION INVENTORY - BDI

  21-point self-report questionnaire, each item consists of 4 statements and the person much choose the statement that best fits how they have been feeling over last 1-2 weeks, each item given a numerical score and used to assess severity

  10 is minimum = mild depression

  19-20 = moderate depression

  30+ = severe depression
• Ellis rational emotive behaviour therapy (REBT)


  Based on the principles of STOICISM: the individual is not directly affected by external things but by their own perception of external things, Ellis argued – a person becomes depressed because of internal constructions: because of their perceptions and attitudes towards things that happen in their lives, helps patient understand the ABC model (A = activating event, B = beliefs about event, C = consequences), aim is to create and maintain constructive rational patterns of thinking about their lives – done through disputing where the therapist forcefully questions irrational beliefs and replace them with more rational thoughts
• Becks Cognitive Restructuring - T+M


  Talking therapy involving one to one discussion between patient + therapist  

  Includes techniques such as questioning, to identify illogical thinking and talking through way of challenging the patient's way of thinking  
• How Cognitive Reconstructing works

  1. Depressive disorder explained
  2. Train patient to observe + record their thoughts   
  3. Therapist helps them to understand link between their thoughts, affect + behaviour – patient directed to ‘catch’ and record dysfunctional thoughts  
  4. Therapist then uses reattributing where they discuss the cause of problems are external of internal
  5. As a result, patient can reframe their thinking about an upsetting situation and realise they weren’t responsible