We all feel emotional ups and downs sometimes; it’s a normal part of life. But if it’s impacting a person’s daily life, work, and relationships, it can be a mood disorder.
A Mood disorder is a complex mental health condition that greatly impacts a person’s emotional well-being and disturbs the ability to function in daily life. It is a disconnection between actual life circumstances and the person’s state of mind or feelings. This condition can have serious consequences in all aspects of life, from personal to professional. It encompasses a range of conditions, including depression, bipolar disorder, and various other mood swings that can affect one’s overall mental and emotional state.
The Deep Link Between Brain and Body
As we have already discussed, mood disorders affect our overall mood and disturb our overall quality of life. Its psychiatric condition is marked by prolonged emotional disturbances and impaired functional behavior. A person in this state has no energy to do the tasks that they tend to enjoy. You might be thinking Why does this happen? That’s because the mind and body are entirely connected; they both give signals to each other and work collaboratively. Our brain controls stress and the important aspects of life through different hormones, such as cortisol and adrenaline, which are known to be stress hormones.
So people who have been through stress for a longer period of time have hormone levels that remain too high, which ultimately affects the body as well. This is because people with mental health conditions feel lethargic and low at work and are unable to concentrate.
What are the Effects of Mood Disorder on Physical Health?
This condition can also be associated with physical symptoms that affect everyday functioning and quality of life. Here is how it affects physical health:
- Trouble sleeping or sleeping too much.
- Changes in appetite or drastic changes in weight.
- Lowered energy and frequent physical complaints, such as headache, stomachache, or tiredness, that don’t get better with treatment.
These physical signs can make it harder for a person to function normally, as they can negatively affect their ability to function normally and can have serious consequences in everyday life.
What is the Prevalence of Mood Disorders?
Mood disorders affect people of all ages, including all genders. About 1 in 7 people experience depression after the birth of a baby, postpartum depression—recently renamed “perinatal depression”.The World Health Organization ranks both major depressive disorder (MDD) and bipolar disorder (BD) among the top 10 leading causes of disability worldwide. As of 2021, an estimated 37 million people (or 0.5% of the world population) struggle with bipolar disorder. Moreover, conditions like MDD and BD carry a high risk of suicide, as estimated 25%–50% of people diagnosed with BD will attempt suicide at least once in their lifetimes (Goodwin & Jamison, 2007).
If you or someone else is in danger or experiencing thoughts of suicide, call or text 988 for the Suicide & Crisis Lifeline.
What are the Physical Symptoms Associated With Mood Disorders?
Depending on age and the type of this disorder, a person may have different symptoms when they become depressed. So, it’s harder to diagnose this condition as it causes several symptoms that may signal other conditions. Also, it’s a hazard to diagnose in children, as they can’t always express how they feel, and symptoms may look different in children from how they look in adults. Physical symptoms have been found to increase the duration of depressed mood.
The following are the most common symptoms:
- Lethargy
- Digestive disorders, heart disease, and obesity
- Frequent physical complaints, such as headache, stomachache, or tiredness, that don’t get better with treatment
- Loss of concentration.
- Less able to make decisions.
- Not interested in normal activities or activities that were once enjoyed.
- Chronic pain such as back pain, arthritis, and fibromyalgia pain.
These symptoms can interfere with someone’s interest in family, friends, community, or work.
How Do Mood Disorders Affects Physical Well-Being?
Mood disorders are complex and debilitating conditions that severely impact our physical health. This condition is linked with other health conditions such as cancer, injuries, infections, and chronic illnesses, which can also lead to the symptoms of depression.
Here is how it affects physical health:
Sleep
As we know, mood disorders lead to depression and bipolar disorder. Depression may severely affect the sleep cycle and lead to excessive sleeping or insomnia. Whereas bipolar disorder can also affect sleep, it can be during the manic or hypomanic episodes. In these episodes, an individual may need much less sleep without feeling tired. However, this disruption and changes in the sleep cycle can worsen concentration on work and make one remain irritated most of the time.
Appetite and Weight
Individuals struggling with this state have issues with managing weight. They don’t feel any food cravings, and they may find it difficult to maintain meals. However, all these changes may lead to an increase in weight, loss of weight, or nutritional deficiencies. It may ultimately be worse for the people who are going through diabetes and high blood pressure.
Fatigue and Reduced Activity
People experiencing mood disorders have excessive fatigue, and lead to difficulties in managing day-to-day life. People experiencing depression or bipolar disorder remain less motivated to do any kind of physical activity, which may ultimately contribute to muscle issues, changes in weight, poorer sleep, and issues with heart health. Moreover, fatigue can also make it harder for one to attend appointments with the doctor and remain consistent with the treatments, or to maintain social connections.
Pain and Digestive Symptoms
Mood disorders such as depression and bipolar disorder may lead to several aches and digestive problems. People in this state experience severe headaches, muscle pain, abdominal discomfort, constipation, diarrhea, or other physical symptoms that are unexplained. The physical pain associated with this disorder is real and cannot go on its own, as people may experience overlapping neurological and psychological processes.
Cardiovascular and metabolic health
Individuals may also experience physical symptoms like heartaches and metabolic health problems. But a question arises in our minds: how can a mood disorder increase the risk of cardiovascular diseases? It can be because of sleep disruption, excessive stress, less activity, smoking, excessive substance intake, poor diet, or medication side effects. That is why regular medical monitoring, especially when you experience excessive changes in weight, blood pressure, and cholesterol.
What are the Types of Mood Disorders?
There are different types of mood; each one has different causative factors and symptoms. The most common types include:
1. Major Depressive Disorder (MDD)
Major depressive disorder is described as endless sadness and loss of interest in daily activities. It leads to a range of physical and emotional symptoms, including fatigue, changes in appetite, and suicidal thoughts. This condition greatly affects personal and professional life.
2. Bipolar Disorder
Bipolar Disorder involves extreme mood shifts between manic (elevated or irritable mood) and depressive episodes. Bipolar I is marked by manic episodes, while Bipolar II features hypomanic episodes and depression. A study by Merikangas et al. in 2007 found that 4.4% of the population experiences bipolar disorder.
3. Cyclothymic Disorder
Cyclothymic Disorder is also a condition where individuals experience frequent mood swings between hypomania and mild depression. While the symptoms don’t meet the criteria for full manic or depressive episodes, the mood instability is ongoing and impairs functioning over time.
4. Persistent Depressive Disorder (Dysthymia)
Persistent Depressive Disorder is characterized by chronic, mild depressive symptoms lasting for at least two years. Symptoms are less severe than in major depression but last longer, affecting daily life and productivity. Individuals often struggle with low mood for much of their lives.
5. Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD)
Seasonal Affective Disorder occurs with seasonal changes, often in winter, due to reduced exposure to sunlight. This type of depression causes symptoms like low energy, sadness, and social withdrawal, which are treated with light therapy or antidepressants.
6. Substance-induced Mood disorder
This condition leads to changes in mood that are triggered by alcohol, cocaine, medications, or exposure to toxins, which lead one towards anxiety and depression.
What are Risk Factors of Developing Mood Disorders?
Risk factors include life experiences and stressful life events that increase the risk of certain types of mood disorders. This condition may occur along with neurological disorders and affect the brain and the nervous system. For example, depression is common among people with multiple sclerosis, dementia, traumatic brain injury, stroke, and epilepsy. Depression also often occurs in people who have movement disorders like Parkinson’s disease and those who have other long-term health conditions.
Here are some of the risk factors associated with this condition:
- Family history of depression or bipolar disorder.
- Previous depressive, manic, or hypomanic episodes.
- Trauma, abuse, bereavement, or prolonged stress.
- Chronic pain or long-term medical illness.
- Sleep disruption or major changes in routine.
- Alcohol or drug use.
- Pregnancy, postpartum changes, menopause, or other hormonal changes.
- Social isolation or limited access to support.
- Certain medications or neurological conditions.
Professional Diagnosis
Mood disorders are serious conditions, as the symptoms may seem like other conditions or mental health problems. Always talk with a healthcare provider for a diagnosis. A mental health expert uses the DSM-5 TR in order to diagnose this condition. They may ask questionnaires, check your history, and meet with the caregivers and parents in order to know the exact cause. This condition cannot always be prevented, but early diagnosis and treatment can reduce the severity of symptoms. It can also enhance the person’s normal growth and development and improve their quality of life.
Treatment and Management
Understanding the various types of mood disorders, their causes, and available treatment options is essential for fostering a compassionate and informed approach. Without treatment, symptoms can last for weeks, months, or years. Treatments for these disorders include medications and therapies. Long-term, ongoing treatment helps people improve overall health and manage symptoms.
Some of the common treatments include:
Medications
Mental health professionals recommend medication after looking at the severity of the symptoms. The medicines work very well, especially when combined with psychotherapy. There are some antidepressants that also prove beneficial in controlling depression. People should not start, stop, or change psychiatric medication without medical guidance.
Psychotherapy
Psychotherapy is one of the best options for managing this disorder and other related conditions that are associated with mood disorders. Most commonly, cognitive-behavioral therapy or interpersonal therapy is best for managing this condition. It focuses on identifying and restructuring negative thought patterns that drive depressive and anxious behaviors and helps to enhance relationship skills.
Here are some other therapies:
- Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT): This therapy combines acceptance and change strategies to decrease emotional dysregulation and self-harming behaviors.
- Interpersonal Therapy (IPT): It is a type of therapy that focuses on behaviors related to you and the people. It improves mood by dealing with unresolved sorrow, social role conflicts, and interpersonal deficiencies.
- Psychodynamic Therapy: Psychodynamic therapy investigates senseless conflicts, early childhood experiences, and emotional repression contributing to chronic mood symptoms.
- Group Therapy: Group therapy facilitates support from family and friends, shared experiences, and social learning to decrease loneliness and improve management strategies.
- Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy (MBCT): MBCT combines mindfulness practices to decrease the chances of relapse in individuals with recurrent depression.
- Behavioral Activation Therapy: BAT facilitates engagement in activities that are positive for the mind, and it also helps equalize avoidance behaviors and anhedonia.
- Family-Focused Therapy: Family-focused therapy focuses on family communication patterns and dynamics to stabilize mood symptoms, especially in adolescents with bipolar disorder.
- Emotion-Focused Therapy (EFT): Emotion-focused therapy focuses on understanding, acceptance, and transformation of core emotional occasions affecting mood states.
- Support groups: Support groups provide peer-based connection. Group participation enhances engagement, reduces stress, and offers practices to cope with mental health conditions over time.
Conclusion
Mood disorders can affect both mental and physical well-being. Trouble sleeping or sleeping too much, changes in appetite or weight, decreased energy, headaches, stomachaches, and tiredness can occur with this condition. This condition is most often treated with medicine, psychotherapy, cognitive behavioral therapy, family therapy, or a combination of medicine and therapy. When correctly diagnosed and treated, people with this disorder can live stable, productive, healthy lives.
Seek professional Help at Orange Coast Psychiatry
It’s important to remember that mood disorders are mental health conditions. As with all mental health issues, seeking help as soon as symptoms appear is very important to reduce their impact on your physical health. At Orange Coast Psychiatry, we offer treatments that help you recover from mood disorders and their impact. Our highly expert team of mental health professionals will help you regain control of your life and maintain your long-term physical health. We cover a wide range of insurance plans so you don’t have to worry about the bills and reimbursements. You can also get treatment with ease from the comfort of your home through our telephysician appointments.
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