Emotional disorders: types, symptoms, causes and treatment.

This type of alterations affect our mood and emotional balance.

What are emotional disorders and how can we detect them? Over the last decades, these types of disorders have been included and rethought in the DSM (Diagnostic Manual of Mental Disorders).

In this article we are going to explain each one 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.

1. 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 mood) for most of the day.
• Disinterest and inability to feel pleasure (anhedonia) in all or almost all daily facets, and most days.
• Abrupt drop in body weight (more than 5% of weight in 30 days), or exaggerated loss or increase in appetite on most days.
• Difficulty sleeping (insomnia) or excessive sleep (hypersomnia) almost every day.
• Psychomotor agitation or sluggishness on most days
• Low energy most days
• Feelings of worthlessness, 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 physicians 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, the patient must show a depressed mood for most of the day and for a period of at least two years, with no two-month period in which the mood returns to normal.

Symptoms

Two or more of the following symptoms must 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 at which the individual usually presents the first stage of dysthymia: around 20 years of age.

3. Bipolar disorder

Bipolar disorder, also known as bipolar disorder, is the predisposition to suffer episodes of mania alternating with stages of major depression. These mood swings lead to states of euphoria and frenzied activity over long periods of time, and then fall into apathy and despair.

There are two types of bipolar disorder: I and II. They differ in one feature of the manic episode. In bipolar I disorder, manic episodes complete with low mood stages are intermittent. In bipolar II disorder, however, hypomanic episodes (milder than manic episodes) and depressive episodes are intermittent.

Symptoms

In either case, the symptoms of both subtypes are as follows:

• Occurrence of one or more episodes of major depression.
• Occurrence of at least one manic episode (in bipolar II disorder).
• Occurrence of at least one hypomanic episode (in bipolar I disorder).

4. Cyclothymic disorder

Cyclothymic disorder is a disorder similar to bipolar II disorder. It is distinguished because its episodes are milder, although its duration in the time is more prolonged.

Symptoms

The symptoms that warn of the arrival of this disorder are the following:

• Various stages of hypomanic symptoms.
• Various stages of depressive symptoms, but without meeting the criteria for major depression per se.
• Approximately 30% of patients eventually progress to 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 points of view and controversies about the most frequent causes of emotional disorders. However, there are several factors that can influence their onset..

These mental disorders are multi-causal. That is, they do not appear due to a single factor, but it is the addition of several factors that can cause the disorder.

Genetics

If there is a family history of people who have suffered from emotional disorders, this may indicate a Biological and genetic predisposition. Different investigations conclude that people with family members who have suffered from mood disorders are 2 to 3 times more likely to suffer from the same psychological disorder (Gershon, 1990).

However, there are also cases in which a disorder develops without there being or being able to prove a family history. For this same reason, many experts indicate that there are environmental and psychosocial factors that may be closely linked to the onset 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 studies point to the link between the onset of depression and the hormone cortisol. This hormone increases 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 depression patient is asked about life events that occurred just before falling into a depressive state, many of them report having suffered a breakup, having had a child, having been fired from work, having started a university career....

It should not be understood that the emotional disorder appears only because of this 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 recurrent negative thoughts, low self-esteem, external locus of control and tend to worry excessively about life circumstances. by the circumstances that life presents to them. This personality type makes them more prone to emotional disturbance.

They are individuals who incur in 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 overgeneralization, i.e., they draw general conclusions about specific and negative situations that have happened to them.

Treatment

There are several ways to treat emotional disorders.

1. Antidepressants

There are three types of drugs used to alleviate depression: tricyclic antidepressants, monoamine oxidase inhibitors (MAO) and selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRI).

These drugs act on the brain and regulate neurotransmitters, leading to an improvement in the patient's mood in most cases. In any case, this type of pharmacological treatment must be prescribed by a psychiatrist, who will monitor the patient's progress.

2. Lithium

Lithium is a common salt used as a mood-regulating medication, mainly in manic episodes of mood disorder.mainly in manic episodes of bipolar disorder. In any case, it has more severe side effects compared to other drugs that fight depression.

In cases of bipolar disorder, certain antidepressants are also frequently administered in order to alleviate episodes of low mood. Antipsychotics such as haloperidol may also be prescribed if your reaction to lithium has not been as expected.

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 carried out in parallel to 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). Diagnoses towards the DSM V. Journal of Mental health.