The elevation or lowering of an individual’s mood can be attributed to one or more disorders that affect the psychological well-being of the affected person. Mood disorders can cause depression, anxiety, and generally create a personal environment for the affected individual that is difficult and even impossible at times to handle. Many people who suffer mood disorders seek therapy or medication, or both, to help get through each day. From a psychological standpoint mood disorders are a debilitating effect that can have a great impact on an individual’s life.
There are several types of mood disorders, and each one leads in some way to depression. Mood disorders are also quite normal, though they are far more prevalent in women than in men. While the disorders are not hereditary they are still seen to occur in families amongst one or more individuals, showing that families do have a tendency to pass disorders along. This could be from exposure, experience, or the simple proclivity that is seen in family members who have witnessed such disorders. Many scientists believe that mood disorders are generally created by an imbalance in chemicals within the brain. It then stands to reason that such disorders can be handed down through family lines, and that such disorders can be explained by attempting to map the human brain.
Given that mood disorders are an impairment, it is then easy enough to assume that they
must be caused by something that can affect behavior. As everything that affects behavior
originates with responses assimilated and processed by various functions within the brain, it is
reasonable to seek answers by determining which parts of the brain are active during different
situations. Proceeding in such a manner can give a better understanding of how disorders work
and what part of the brain becomes impaired when they are required to function. In disrupting
cognition mood disorders can affect behavior as well.
In the article “Alterations in neural systems mediating cognitive flexibility and inhibition in mood disorders” the test that is conducted between those patients with mood disorders and those deemed healthy shows those with disorders have a higher Switch Cost than healthy patients (Piguet, Cojan, Sterpenich, Desseilles, Bertschy, & Vuilleumier, 2016) . What this means is that when an individual with a mood disorder is forced to multitask their attention is lessened towards the first task when they are given a second task to complete simultaneously. What is interesting about this study is that it does in fact propose a worthwhile method of discovering that those with mood disorders do in fact have an impairment when it comes to multitasking. What it fails to explain is why.
It is understandable that the cause of mood disorders and the lack of cognitive flexibility remains unresolved. What is not helpful however is that instead of seeking the answer many researchers continue to pore over what is known rather than what is unknown. There are answers to be found within the known material, but it would seem more constructive to look after reasons behind why a disorder occurs rather than focus solely on its limitations. In seeking out its origin a great deal more might be answered as to the why and how of the disorder.
The next article, “From inhibition to activation, from emotional hyporeactivity to
emotional hyperreactivity: Two pathways to discriminate mood in bipolar disorders” focuses largely upon bipolar disorders (Atzeni, Henry, Minois, Gard, Desage, Zanouy, & M’Bailara, 2013). Bipolar disorder is a very serious condition and can be highly disruptive to the lives of the affected individuals as well as those around them. While it is not always the case those with bipolar disorder can be quite unpredictable in their mood swings and can experience a variety of highs and lows that can confuse and at times cause a fair amount of risk to the one affected and those around them. Considering that bipolar disorder, when left untreated, can be a detriment to the patient as well as any in their vicinity, it is far safer to know the level of activity in any given individual that is affected by this disorder.
While the article is well written and devised, it doesn’t take into account a great deal of variables in how those with high reactivity can be allowed to gain control of their disorder, nor if those in the control group were in any way affected by the disorder or not. Again there is a lack of information that might be pertinent to the study and therefore lend it another critical layer that would aid in its definition. Though it isn’t feasible or entirely possible to cover all necessary angles when conducting a study such as this, it does help when the results are tallied and the question of why the results read as they do is asked. It is understood that those with bipolar disorder generally possess a higher emotional reactivity, but the explanation has yet to be discovered.
The final article, “Neural correlates and generation and inhibition of verbal association patterns in mood disorders” switches focus slightly onto more abstract methods used by those with mood disorders (Piguet, Desseilles, Cojan, Sterpenich, Dayer, Bertschy, & Vuilleumier, 2015). It is obvious at this point that mood disorders affect cognitive behaviors and abilities, and in this article it is shown that those without said disorders are far more capable of associative thinking than those who suffer mood disorders. The methods used are simple enough as both those affected by mood disorders and those who are not are subjected to different words that are either negative, positive, or neutral. They were then told to respond with two words that were either associated or not with the presented words.
What was discovered was that those with mood disorders could not respond as accurately to the words as the control patients, who utilized different portions of their brain that were typical and expected. Those with the disorders were seen to activate differing sections of the brain that in effect allowed them to “think around” the presented material in a very roundabout way. While the methodology is sound, the practice is flawed in that it does not require a mood disorder to think differently than others. As different individuals think in different ways it is likely that with repeated tests of control subject’s different areas of the brain will be activated among the group. In a sense it is almost akin to seeing if a doctor’s mind operates the same as a high school dropout’s.
What is known about the neurological processes that lead to mood disorders are that they are biological in nature. Human behavior comes from the most basic biological processes. From the manner in which people adapt to their surroundings to the act of adapting to a specific social environment, the root of every behavior is based within the human brain and how it processes information. The average brain will accept, adapt, and formulate a reasonable response to such stimuli. Those who suffer through mood disorders will typically find a different neurological pathway to utilize or will assimilate and reciprocate said information in the best way possible.
must begin.
References
Atzeni, T. et al. (2013). From inhibition to activation, from emotional hyporeactivity to
emotional hyperreactivity: Two pathways to discriminate mood in bipolar disorders. Psychiatry Research, 209(1): 50-54.
doi: 10.1016/j.psychres.2012.10.008.
Piguet, C. et al. (2015). Neural correlates and generation and inhibition of verbal association
patterns in mood disorders. Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience, 10(7): 978-986.
doi: 10.1093/scan/nsu146.
Piguet, C. et al. (2016). Alterations in neural systems mediating cognitive flexibility and
inhibition in mood disorders. Human Brain Mapping, 37(4): 1335-1348.
doi: 10.1002/hbm.23104.
