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Mood Disorders
Mood disorders are very common, and can range from a relatively mild condition to a severe state of incapacitation that includes psychosis or catatonia. The most well-known types of mood disorders can be divided into Depressive Disorders and Bipolar Disorders.
There are many treatments for depression, and usually the condition is treatable or time-limited. There are, though, some people who suffer unremitting depression for years. Often their depression stems from a personality disorder and/or from childhood events including the loss of a parent or physical or sexual abuse— in such cases the depression is less likely to respond to medication. Other times a depressed person may actually be experiencing the depressed side of bipolar disorder— in such cases the classic antidepressants will often make the person feel more depressed or irritable. Recent developments in the treatment of depression include the recognition of the antidepressant properties of atypical antipsychotics for people with bipolar disorder, and the development of new techniques or medications such as vagal nerve stimulation and ensam, a skin patch that contains a MAOI (monoamine oxidase inhibitor). The opiate medication suboxone has been found to have antidepressant properties in some patients also.
Bipolar Disorder has been divided into at least two types, types 1 and type 2, which differ in part in severity with Bipolar 1 generally being the more severe form. There may be other types of ‘bipolar disorders’; some people have moods that vary many times throughout one day, whereas the more ‘classic’ type of bipolar disorder causes mood swings on a weekly or even monthly basis. Bipolar disorders are generally treated using mood stabilizers from three classes of drugs; Lithium, anticonvulsants, and antipsychotics. The non-classic, newer type of bipolar disorders do not generally respond as well to medications. The rapid mood swings of these conditions may or may not end up being seen as a type of bipolar disorder; they may eventually be seen as mood problems arising from personality disorders such as Borderline Personality Disorder.
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