A mood disorder is a mental illness that affects your mood and emotions. Mood disorders can cause frequent, intense feelings of sadness, anger, or excitement that can disrupt everyday life and impair functioning. Unfortunately, the feelings that come with mood disorders can be incredibly painful, causing some people to turn to drugs and alcohol.
Mood disorders are treatable. The first step toward getting help for a mood disorder is recognizing the symptoms. This article will explore what mood disorders are, how to identify them, and how they’re treated.
At Moving Mountains Recovery, we believe that long-term recovery requires overcoming not only substance abuse but also the root cause of your addiction. That’s why we offer comprehensive mood disorder treatment at our New Jersey rehab center. Our licensed therapists are committed to helping those affected learn how to manage their mood disorders and improve their overall well-being.
If you or someone you love needs mood disorder treatment in New Jersey, reach out to the Moving Mountains Recovery specialists to get started.
People are capable of experiencing many emotions and moods throughout their lifetime–and even over the course of a day. In most cases, a person’s mood fluctuates as they face different situations and matches the severity of their situation.
However, people with a mood disorder may have emotional states that keep them from functioning well in daily life. A mood disorder is a mental illness that impacts your emotions. People with mood disorders may have long periods of overwhelming sadness, joy, or anger.
So, how can you tell the difference between natural mood fluctuations and a mood disorder? To meet the criteria for a mood disorder diagnosis, the emotional symptoms you’re experiencing need to last for several weeks or longer. Symptoms must also be significant enough to impair your functioning, such as preventing you from going to work or school or keeping up with your hygiene and daily chores.
What Are the Mood Disorders?
Mood disorders fall into four distinct categories, each with its own disorders.
Depression is a common mental health condition that can cause feelings of sadness or emptiness. People with depression often experience other symptoms, including:
- Poor concentration
- Impaired memory
- Changes in sleep patterns–sleeping too much or too little
- Changes in appetite
There are several types of depression. They include:
- Persistent depressive disorder:Â Chronic depression that lasts for at least two years. Symptoms may fluctuate in intensity.
- Postpartum depression:Â Depression occurring in the final stages of pregnancy or after the end of pregnancy.
- Seasonal affective disorder:Â Depression that occurs during certain seasons of the year that lessens with the changes of seasons. Most common in late fall and winter, with symptoms disappearing in the spring.
- Depression with psychosis:Â Severe depression with psychotic episodes that may include hallucinations or delusions.
Depression is one of the most common forms of mental illness. Research from 2021 suggests that about 21 million people–about 8% of the population– in the United States experienced at least one major depressive episode in the previous year.
Bipolar disorder is a mental illness that causes extreme fluctuations in mood and energy levels and can affect thoughts and behaviors. There are several types of bipolar disorder involving mood fluctuations called hypomanic/manic episodes and depressive episodes.
People with bipolar disorder have it for life–there is no cure. However, bipolar disorder is treatable.
The types of bipolar disorder are:
- Bipolar I: One or more periods of mania, with or without depression.
- Bipolar II: Cycles of depression and hypomania (a less severe form of mania)
- Cyclothymia disorder: Chronically unstable mood state that includes hypomania and mild depression for at least two years.
Depression is treatable, and many people can live full, healthy lives while managing their symptoms.
Two other mood disorders are:
- Premenstrual dysphoric disorder: A mood disorder that occurs in the 7-10 days before menstruation. Symptoms include anger, irritability, depression, anxiety, and insomnia.
- Disruptive mood dysregulation disorder: Affects children and adolescents and includes frequent outbursts of anger and irritability that do not correspond to the situation causing it.
Anxiety and panic are not mood disorders, but anxiety can occur with or precede mood disorders.
The Relationship Between Mood Disorders and Addiction
Extreme feelings of worthlessness, hopelessness, and shame can hold people back from truly enjoying life, and individuals often find themselves desperate for some type of relief.
Some individuals with mood disorders turn to alcohol, drugs, or other substances as a way to cope with their emotional pain. While these substances may provide temporary relief, they ultimately exacerbate depression symptoms and can lead to addiction.
On the flip side, individuals who abuse substances are at a higher risk of developing mood disorders like depression. The chemical changes in the brain caused by substance abuse can disrupt mood regulation, making it more likely for depression or other mental health conditions to take hold. People who have no previous history of depression may experience depression as a result of their substance abuse.
At the same time, both mood disorders and substance abuse share common risk factors, such as genetic predisposition, childhood trauma, and environmental stressors. These overlapping factors can contribute to the co-occurrence of these conditions.
More than 20% of people with a mood disorder also experience addiction at some point in their lives, but with comprehensive treatment, individuals can recover from both conditions simultaneously.
How are Mood Disorders Treated?
Doctors may prescribe medications to help people reduce or manage their mood disorder symptoms. Medications for mood disorders include:
- Antidepressants
- Mood stabilizers
- Antipsychotics
Before beginning treatment for a mood disorder, your doctor will perform a mental health and physical exam to determine which medication is appropriate and most likely to be effective.
Mood disorders can affect your ability to function. Mental health experts believe that mood disorders have complex roots in a person’s genetics, childhood experiences, and other fundamental aspects of who they are. Psychotherapy allows you to understand your thoughts and behaviors and make changes to the way you manage them.
There are several types of therapy used in mood disorder treatment. Some of the most common types are:
- Cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT)
- Dialectical behavior therapy (DBT)
- Psychodynamic therapy
These therapeutic approaches can help people examine and correct destructive patterns which can result in better functioning and more emotional comfort over time.
