- Section 1 The Subject Matter of and Approach to Psychiatry
- 1.3 Psychiatry as a worldwide public health problem
- 1.4 The history of psychiatry as a medical specialty
- 1.5 Ethics and values
- 1.6 The psychiatrist as a manager
- 1.7 Descriptive phenomenology
- 1.8 Assessment
- 1.9 Diagnosis and classification
- 1.10 From science to practice
- Section 2 The Scientific Basis of Psychiatric Aetiology
- 2.3 The contribution of neurosciences
- 2.4 The contribution of genetics
- 2.5 The contribution of psychological science
- 2.6 The contribution of social sciences
- 2.7 The contribution of epidemiology to psychiatric aetiology
- Section 3 Psychodynamic Contributions to Psychiatry
- Section 4 Clinical Syndromes of Adult Psychiatry
- 4.4 Persistent delusional symptoms and disorders
- 4.5 Mood disorders
- 4.5.1 Introduction to mood disorders
- 4.5.2 Clinical features of mood disorders and mania
- 4.5.3 Diagnosis, classification, and differential diagnosis of the mood disorders
- 4.5.4 Epidemiology of mood disorders
- 4.5.5 Genetic aetiology of mood disorders
- 4.5.6 Neurobiological aetiology of mood disorders
- 4.5.7 Course and prognosis of mood disorders
- 4.5.8 Treatment of mood disorders
- 4.5.9 Dysthymia, cyclothymia, and hyperthymia
- 4.6 Stress-related and adjustment disorders
- 4.7 Anxiety disorders
- Section 5 Psychiatry and Medicine
- Section 6 Treatment Methods in Psychiatry
- 6.2 Somatic treatments
- Section 7 Social Psychiatry and Service Provision
- Section 8 The Psychiatry of Old Age
- Section 9 Child and Adolescent Psychiatry
Introduction to mood disorders
- Chapter:
- Introduction to mood disorders
- Author(s):
John R. Geddes
- DOI:
- 10.1093/med/9780199696758.003.0083
The concept of mood is difficult to define. In psychiatry, it has come to mean a pervasive emotional tone varying along an axis from happiness to sadness—and perhaps anxiety. The boundaries between normal and abnormal mood are equally difficult to define. Nonetheless, there is usually no doubt about the most extreme manifestations of low mood, depression, or elevated mood, mania. This chapter begins by discussing the early history and subsequent development of modern psychiatric nosology. It then covers the distinction between unipolar and bipolar disorders, modern diagnostic systems and the birth of diagnostic criteria, subgroups of unipolar and bipolar disorder, and likely future developments in the classification of mood disorders.
Access to the complete content on Oxford Medicine Online requires a subscription or purchase. Public users are able to search the site and view the abstracts for each book and chapter without a subscription.
Please subscribe or login to access full text content.
If you have purchased a print title that contains an access token, please see the token for information about how to register your code.
For questions on access or troubleshooting, please check our FAQs, and if you can't find the answer there, please contact us.
- Section 1 The Subject Matter of and Approach to Psychiatry
- 1.3 Psychiatry as a worldwide public health problem
- 1.4 The history of psychiatry as a medical specialty
- 1.5 Ethics and values
- 1.6 The psychiatrist as a manager
- 1.7 Descriptive phenomenology
- 1.8 Assessment
- 1.9 Diagnosis and classification
- 1.10 From science to practice
- Section 2 The Scientific Basis of Psychiatric Aetiology
- 2.3 The contribution of neurosciences
- 2.4 The contribution of genetics
- 2.5 The contribution of psychological science
- 2.6 The contribution of social sciences
- 2.7 The contribution of epidemiology to psychiatric aetiology
- Section 3 Psychodynamic Contributions to Psychiatry
- Section 4 Clinical Syndromes of Adult Psychiatry
- 4.4 Persistent delusional symptoms and disorders
- 4.5 Mood disorders
- 4.5.1 Introduction to mood disorders
- 4.5.2 Clinical features of mood disorders and mania
- 4.5.3 Diagnosis, classification, and differential diagnosis of the mood disorders
- 4.5.4 Epidemiology of mood disorders
- 4.5.5 Genetic aetiology of mood disorders
- 4.5.6 Neurobiological aetiology of mood disorders
- 4.5.7 Course and prognosis of mood disorders
- 4.5.8 Treatment of mood disorders
- 4.5.9 Dysthymia, cyclothymia, and hyperthymia
- 4.6 Stress-related and adjustment disorders
- 4.7 Anxiety disorders
- Section 5 Psychiatry and Medicine
- Section 6 Treatment Methods in Psychiatry
- 6.2 Somatic treatments
- Section 7 Social Psychiatry and Service Provision
- Section 8 The Psychiatry of Old Age
- Section 9 Child and Adolescent Psychiatry