Affective Disorder

Synonyms

Emotional disorder; Mood disorder

Short Description or Definition

An affective disorder is a mental disorder predominantly characterized by altered mood characterized by feelings of emptiness, irritability, or sadness for a prolonged period that results in a significant impairment in social, occupational, or another important area of functioning. Affective disorders include depressive disorders such as major depressive disorder and dysthymia, as well as manic disorders such as bipolar disorder and cyclothymic disorder. Affective disorders may be primary or caused by medical conditions or substances.

Categorization

Mania and depression seem to anchor the ends of an emotional and behavioral continuum, an observation that dates from ancient times. In Hippocrates’ humoral theory, mania resulted from an excess of yellow bile and depression to an excess of black bile. In the early twentieth century, German psychiatrist Emil Kraepelin described affective disorders as belonging to a...