Mood disorders are emotional disturbances consisting of prolonged periods of excessive sadness, excessive elevated mood, or both. Mood disorders can occur in adults, adolescents, or children (see Depressive Disorders in Children and Adolescents and Bipolar Disorder in Children and Adolescents).
Mood disorders are categorized as
Anxiety and related disorders are not classified as mood disorders, but they often precede them or coexist with them.
Sadness and joy (elation) are part of everyday life. Sadness is a universal response to defeat, disappointment, and other discouraging situations. Joy is a universal response to success, achievement, and other encouraging situations.
Grief, a form of sadness, is considered a normal emotional response to a loss. Bereavement refers specifically to the emotional response to the death of a loved one. However, in some cases the response to loss is more persistent and disabling and includes symptoms that overlap somewhat with those of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and major depressive disorder and last for more than 12 months, thereby fulfilling the criteria for prolonged grief disorder (1).
A mood disorder is diagnosed when sadness or elation is
Overly intense and persistent
Accompanied by other mood disorder symptoms that meet criteria for a disorder
Significantly impairs the person's capacity to function
In such cases, intense sadness is termed depression, and intense elation is termed mania. Depressive disorders are characterized by depression; bipolar disorders are characterized by varying combinations of depression and mania.
Suicide in mood disorders
Suicide is a significant risk in people with major depressive disorder. Lifetime risk of suicide for people with a depressive disorder is 3 to 6% (2), depending on severity of their depression. Risk is further increased in the following cases:
At the start of treatment, when psychomotor activity is returning to normal but mood is still dark
During mixed bipolar states
At personally significant anniversaries
By severe anxiety or psychomotor agitation
By alcohol and substance use
In the weeks to months after a suicide attempt, particularly one using a violent method
Other complications of mood disorders
Other complications of mood disorders include
Disability ranging from mild to complete inability to function, maintain social interaction, and participate in routine activities
Impaired food intake
Severe anxiety
General references
1. Prigerson HG, Boelen PA, Xu J: Validation of the new DSM-5-TR criteria for prolonged grief disorder and the PG-13-Revised (PG-13-R) scale. World Psychiatry 20(1):96-106, 2021. doi: 10.1002/wps.20823
2. Nierenberg AA, Gray SM, Grandin LD: Mood disorders and suicide. J Clin Psychiatry 62 Suppl 25:27-30, 2001. PMID: 11765092
