Emotional disorders: types, symptoms, causes, and treatment
What are emotional disorders and how can we detect them? Over the last decades, these types of affectations have been included and rethought in the DSM (Diagnostic Manual of Mental Disorders).
In this article we will explain each of these emotional disorders, what symptoms and causes each one has and how they can be managed through therapy or with simple psychological advice.
Most common emotional disorders
We are going to know this type of disorders according to their frequency, as well as their most outstanding characteristics.
Major depressive disorder
One of the most recognizable mood disorders, requiring psychological and psychiatric intervention in most cases.
Symptoms
To be diagnosed with major depression, the mental health professional must perceive at least five of the following symptoms, and for a minimum period of two weeks:
- Depressed state (low spirits) for most of the day
- Disinterest and inability to feel pleasure (anhedonia) in all or almost all facets of daily life, and most days.
- Abrupt drop in body weight (more than 5% of weight in 30 days), or exaggerated loss or increase in appetite most days.
- Sleeping difficulties (insomnia) or excessive sleep (hypersomnia) almost every day
- Psychomotor agitation or slowness most days
- Low energy most days
- Feeling of uselessness, guilt or existential exhaustion most days.
- Decreased ability to maintain concentration, to make decisions…
- Suicidal ideation, intrusive thoughts about death
- It is a disorder that must be treated by doctors and mental health professionals. Its average onset is around 25 years of age.
2. Dysthymic disorder
Dysthymia is another mood disorder directly related to depression. To be diagnosed with dysthymia, a patient must be in a depressed mood for most of the day and for at least two years, with no two-month period when the mood returns to normal.
Symptoms
Two or more of the following symptoms should appear during the two-year period:
- Unusual loss or increase in appetite
- Sleeping difficulties (insomnia) or hypersomnia (excessive sleep)
- Apathy and low energy
- Self-esteem problems
- Problems concentrating and making decisions
- There is an average age when the individual usually presents the first stage of dysthymia: around 20 years old.
3. Bipolar disorder
Bipolar disorder, also known as bipolarity, is the predisposition to suffer episodes of mania alternating with stages of major depression. These mood swings lead to euphoria and frantic activity over long periods of time, and then to apathy and despair.
There are two types of bipolar disorder: I and II. They differ in one characteristic of the manic episode. In bipolar disorder I, complete manic episodes with low mood stages are intermittent. In bipolar II disorder, however, hypomanic episodes (milder than manic) and episodes of depression are intermittent.
Symptoms
Be that as it may, the symptoms of both subtypes are these:
- Appearance of one or more episodes of major depression
- occurrence of at least one manic episode (in bipolar II disorder)
- Appearance of at least one hypomanic episode (in bipolar I disorder)
4. Cyclothymic disorder
Cyclothymic disorder is a disorder similar to bipolar II disorder. It can be distinguished by the fact that its episodes are milder, although their duration in time is longer.
Symptoms
The symptoms that warn of the arrival of this disorder are as follows:
- Various stages of hypomanic symptoms
- Various stages of depressive symptoms, but without meeting the criteria for major depression itself
- Approximately 30% of patients end up with bipolar disorder
- Research indicates that the average age of onset of cyclothymic disorder is early, between 12 and 15 years of age
Causes of emotional disorders
In the scientific and academic community there are different views and controversies about what are the most common causes of emotional disorders. However, there are several factors that can influence their appearance .
These mental disorders are multicausal. That is, they are not caused by one factor alone, but by the addition of several factors that may cause the disorder.
1. Genetics
If there is a family history of emotional disturbance, this may indicate a biological and genetic predisposition.
Different research concludes that people with family members who have suffered from mood disorders are 2-3 times more likely to suffer from the same psychological disorder (Gershon, 1990).
However, there are also cases in which a disorder develops without any existing or verifiable family history.
For this same reason many experts indicate that there are environmental and psychosocial factors that can be closely linked to the appearance of diseases such as depression.
2. Biochemistry
The brain and its internal biochemistry have a determining effect on the appearance (or not) of emotional disorders.
- Neurotransmitters: Studies show that low levels of the hormone serotonin in people suffering from depression. This neurotransmitter regulates our emotions, and when we have low levels we tend to be more unstable and vulnerable.
- Endocrine system: several investigations point to the link between the onset of depression and the hormone cortisol. This hormone is increased in times of stress and is apparently also unusually high in people affected by mood disorders.
3. Stress and traumatic events
More than 60% of emotional disorders arise after a bad psychological experience . Psychological trauma and stress are behind most psychological disorders.
When a patient with depression is asked about life events that occurred just before falling into a depressive state, many of them refer to having suffered a break-up in love, having a child, being fired from a job, starting a university career…
With this, it is not necessary to understand that the emotional disorder appears only because of that psychological trauma, but that the person already had a predisposition to suffer a mood disorder, and stress has accelerated the mechanisms that lead to it.
4. Personality
Certain individuals have recurring negative thoughts, low self-esteem, locus of external control and tend to worry excessively about the circumstances that life presents to them. This type of personality makes them more likely to suffer from an emotional disorder.
They are individuals who incur a very common cognitive bias: arbitrary inference. That is, they tend to emphasize the negative factors of a situation or circumstance over the positive ones. In addition, they commit over-generalization, that is, they draw general conclusions from specific negative situations that have occurred to them.
Treatment
There are several ways to treat emotional disorders.
1. Antidepressants
There are three types of drugs used to relieve depression: tricyclic antidepressants, monoamine oxidase inhibitors (MAOIs), and selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs).
These drugs act on the brain and regulate neurotransmitters, which leads to an improvement in the patient’s mood in most cases. However, this type of drug treatment must be prescribed by a psychiatrist, who will follow up on the patient’s progress.
2. Lithium
Lithium is a common salt used as a mood-regulating medication , primarily in the manic episodes of bipolar disorder. However, it has more severe side effects compared to other drugs that fight depression.
In cases of bipolarity, certain antidepressants are also often given to relieve episodes of low mood.
Antipsychotics such as haloperidol may also be prescribed if your reaction to lithium has not been as expected.
3. Psychological therapy
Psychological therapy is very effective in managing episodes of depression and bipolar disorder.
In some cases, especially in bipolar disorder, psychotherapy has to be performed in parallel with pharmacological treatment.
Bibliographic references:
- Cooper, R. (2014). Diagnosing the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders: Fifth Edition.
- Harris, R. (2012). A matter of trust. From fear to freedom. Santander: Sal Terrae.
- Wykes, T. (2011). Diagnosis towards DSM V. Journal of Mental health.