Essay About A. Manic States And Mood Disorders

Mood Disorders
Essay title: Mood Disorders
I. Introduction
Mood disorders can be traced to our earliest times (indeed, to the
Book of Genesis by some writers: Ostow, 1980) and across cultures (Al-
Issa, 1982; Carson, et al., 1988). Many famous people apparently
suffered from these disorders. Eg: Lincoln and Freud suffered from
depression. They are among the most prevalent of psychological
disorders (Reus, 1988).
The Mood Disorders are characterized by prolonged and persistent
positive and/or negative emotions, which are of such intensity that they
can color and interfere with all aspects of ones life. The key
ingredient here is mood. Although thoughts may also be disturbed,
thought disorder (ie: impairment of intellectual functioning – reflected
by incoherence, unconnected, chaotic thoughts, bizarre speech and the
like) is not a defining feature (Thought disorder is central to
Schizophrenia, which we will be discussing in later lectures).
The emotions experienced in these disorders are typically thought
to exist along a continuum with normal emotions (Beck, 1967; Reus,
1988). For example, weve all experienced sadness at some point in our
lives. But such experiences do not warrant a diagnosis. As we shall
see, clinical depression is very different from sadness.
The emotions (or moods) we will be focusing on are excessively
elevated moods and excessively depressed moods, or in other words, Mania
and Depression.
A. Manic States: elevated, expansive, grandiose, or irritable
mood.
A person in a manic state feels euphoric and high, eager to be
involved with others and with life in general. This expansive and
elevated mood may have an infectious quality for the uninvolved
observer, but for those who know the person well, the mood is
recognized as excessive.
Other characteristics:
inflated self-esteem
decreased need for sleep (eg: only 3 hours a night, or
stays awake for 3 or 4 days at a time)
talkative (eg: loud, difficult to interrupt, continuous
flow of speech)
racing ideas
easily distracted
nervous activity
high degree of risk taking (often dangerous)
One patient who went on to write a book about his experiences
(Custance, 1952), similarly describes mania:
intense sense of well-being
heightened sense of reality
release of inhibitions (sexual, moral)
delusions of grandeur and power
Others who have published personal accounts report similar
experiences when in a manic state (see Lerner, 1980).
Case Study:
When experiencing manic symptoms, a 38 year old woman,
periodically hospitalized because of her extreme moods, would
become “overactive and exuberant in spirits and visited her
friends, to whom she outlined her plans for reestablishing
different forms of lucrative business. She purchased many clothes,
bought