Mood disorder

Mood disorder
Other names	mental disorder
A depressive man standing by a country pond in the pouring rain
Specialty	Psychiatry
Types	Bipolar disorder, cyclothymia, disruptive mood dysregulation disorder, dysthymia, major depressive disorder, premenstrual dysphoric disorder, seasonal affective disorder
Causes	Family history, previous diagnosis of a mood disorder, trauma, stress or major life changes in the case of depression, physical illness or use of certain medications. Depression has been linked to major diseases such as cancer, diabetes, Parkinson's disease and heart disease, Brain structure and function in the case of bipolar disorder.[1]
Medication	Antidepressants, mood stabilizers, antipsychotics[1]

A mood disorder, also known as an affective disorder, is any of a group of conditions of mental and behavioral disorder^[2] where the main underlying characteristic is a disturbance in the person's mood.^[3] The classification is in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM) and International Classification of Diseases (ICD).

Mood disorders fall into seven groups,^[2] including; abnormally elevated mood, such as mania or hypomania; depressed mood, of which the best-known and most researched is major depressive disorder (MDD) (alternatively known as clinical depression, unipolar depression, or major depression); and moods which cycle between mania and depression, known as bipolar disorder (BD) (formerly known as manic depression). There are several subtypes of depressive disorders or psychiatric syndromes featuring less severe symptoms such as dysthymic disorder (similar to MDD, but longer lasting and more persistent, though often milder) and cyclothymic disorder (similar to but milder than BD).^[4]

In some cases, more than one mood disorder can be present in an individual, like bipolar disorder and depressive disorder. If a mood disorder and schizophrenia are both present in an individual, this is known as schizoaffective disorder. Mood disorders may also be substance induced, or occur in response to a medical condition.

English psychiatrist Henry Maudsley proposed an overarching category of affective disorder.^[5] The term was then replaced by mood disorder, as the latter refers to the underlying or longitudinal emotional state,^[6] whereas the former refers to the external expression observed by others.^[3]