Affective disorders are mood disorders characterized by extreme and inappropriate levels of mood. They are caused by hormonal imbalances, life stressors, personality traits, and chemical influences. There are two types - neurotic affective disorders, which involve mild impairment and an ability to explain moods, and psychotic affective disorders, with severe impairment and a loss of contact with reality. Major depressive disorder causes symptoms like hopelessness and loss of enthusiasm, while bipolar disorder involves alternating between manic states of abnormal highs and depressive lows. Treatment involves medication, psychotherapy, and electroconvulsive therapy.

1. Affective Disorders
Prepared by:
Orlando A. Pistan, MAEd-GC
Psychology Instructor

2. Nature of Affective Disorders
In Psychology, the term
“Affect” is roughly equivalent
to emotion or mood.
Affective disorders are mood
disorders, in which extreme
and inappropriate levels of
mood is the clinical picture.

3. Mood
 Tend to be much more
long-lasting, going for
hours, days or week.
 More diffused with no
identifiable object.
 A general feeling.
Emotion
 Only lasts for minutes.
 About specific situation.
 A reaction to a stimulus or
particular situation.

4. Causes:
1. Hormonal imbalance
2. Life stressors
3. Personality type
4. Chemically induced

5. Severity:
1. Psychotic affective
disorders
2. Neurotic affective
disorders

6. Comparison:
Neurotic Affective Disorders
 Can explain the cause of their
down mood, but not the
overreaction;
 Avoidance behavior in terms
of personal and social
functioning
 Mild loss of time, place and
person orientation
Psychotic Affective Disorders
 Impaired contact with reality
and current behavior;
 Severe impairment of
personal and social
functioning;
 Loss of time, place and
person orientation.

7. Depression
The individual reacts to some
distressing situation with more
than the usual amount of
sadness and often fails to return
to normal state after a
reasonable period of time.
The symptoms may lasts for
days or weeks but will
eventually clear up.

8. Mania
Mania is marked by periods of great
excitement, euphoria, delusions, and
overactivity.
The word ‘mania’ stands for an
excessive enthusiasm or desire for
something. Most of us suffer from
some obsession or the other, but we
might not have the word to describe it.
A person who is chronically overactive,
dominating and excessively optimistic
concerning the outcome of various
plans.

9. Some popular Mania:
Andromania – also known as Nymphomania
Dissomania – abnormal craving for alcohol
Doromania – obsession with giving gifts
Drapetomania – intense desire to run away from home
Egomania – self-worship
Erotomania – abnormal sex drive
Gynaecomania – abnormal sexual obsession with women
Idolomania – obsession with idols
Kleptomania – irrational predilection for stealing
Pornomania – obsession with pornography
Squandermania – spending money wastefully

10. Major Depressive Disorder (MDD)
Can be acute or depressive-stupor.
Outstanding symptoms are:
 Loss of enthusiasm
 Feeling of unworthiness
 Inactiveness
 Hopelessness
 Unresponsiveness
 Self-harming behaviors
 Suicidal tendencies

11. Bipolar Disorder
Also known as Manic-
depression: Alternating moods
of abnormal highs (mania) and
lows (depression).
It is called bipolar disorder
because of the swings between
these opposing poles in mood.

12. Bipolar Disorder
Outstanding symptoms are:
 Over activity and sleeplessness
 Inappropriate euphoria
 Overconfidence towards
knowledge and abilities
 Promiscuous sexual desires
 Profound religiosity
 Violent behaviors
 Destructiveness
 Screaming

13. Treatment
1. Medication: anti-depressants, tranquilizers
(Imipramine, Amitriptyline)
2. Psychotherapy (counselling, CBT, lifestyle change)
3. Electroconvulsive therapy (ECT)

14. Affective Disorders
Thank you for
paying attention.