What is a mood disorder?
Mood disorder used to be called mood affective disorder and is a group of conditions that reveal themselves through their affect on your moods. A mood disorder will also cause you to act in a way that is inconsistent with what is happening around you. It will also interfere with your ability to function or work.
These moods range from deep sadness, emptiness or hopelessness (depression) all the way to extreme happiness (mania). These moods are extreme opposites and when a person fluctuates from mania to depression over a short space of time, they could have Bipolar disorder.
Mood disorders can be caused by an imbalance of brain chemicals, stressful life events or substance abuse. Every person will experience sadness during their life. A person with a mood disorder will feel that sadness more intensely.
Symptoms of mood disorder will include:
- Feeling hopeless or helpless
- Experiencing long periods of sadness, anxiety or hopelessness.
- Feeling as if you are not good enough
- Feeling unworthy
- Loss of interest in past times, hobbies, sports or anything else that you used to enjoy.
- Excessive guilt and shame.
- You struggle to sleep or sleep too much.
- You find it hard to maintain a healthy relationship and your closest relationships start to crumble.
- Drastic changes in your weight. Losing or gaining a lot of weight can indicate an underlying psychological mood disorder.
- Decreased energy and increased fatigue.
- You may feel more irritable, grumpy and irritated than normal.
- Trouble concentrating or making decisions.
- Repeated thoughts of harming yourself or thoughts of committing suicide.
NOTE: If you are having thoughts of suicide or self-harm of any sort, it is really important that you get help immediately.
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