Abnormal Psychology: Depressive and Bipolar Disorders

Films on Demand: 6:41
Students can read about the causes of depression and the therapies for its treatment. But what’s it actually like to suffer from depression? This short film looks at one woman’s experience of depression: the fatigue, the feeling of being trapped and the continual voices in her head telling her to end her life.

Alexander Street Videos: 34:00
Depression is one of the most common problems brought to psychotherapists. Treatment options and biological substrates will be discussed.

Alexander Street Videos: 3:00
Emotion-Focused Therapy (EFT) involves providing an empathic and emotionally attuned therapeutic relationship in which the therapist has their finger on the client’s pulse moment by moment.

Alexander Street Videos: 2:44:00
Using interventions from Sensorimotor Psychotherapy, this workshop recording will introduce ways to help clients relate to their depressive symptoms mindfully, rather than identifying with them, and to manage physical symptoms through changes in posture, breath, and energy.

Alexander Street Videos: 50:00
The Psychedelic Drug Trial has exclusive access to a ground-breaking new trial at Imperial College London. The trial sees, for the first time ever and under controlled conditions, a psychedelic drug tested head-to-head against a standard antidepressant as a treatment for depression. The film follows a pioneering team of scientists and psychotherapists, led by Professor David Nutt, Dr Robin Carhart-Harris and Dr Rosalind Watts, as they compare the effects of psilocybin (the active ingredient of magic mushrooms) with an antidepressant (an SSRI called escitalopram) on a small group of participants with clinical depression.

ProQuest (series)
A series of interviews with an adolescent girl who has Bipolar I disorder.

(ADAA) ADAA is an international nonprofit organization dedicated to the prevention, treatment, and cure of anxiety, depression, OCD, PTSD, and co-occurring disorders through the alignment of science, treatment, and education.

(National Institute of Mental Health) Bipolar disorder (formerly called manic-depressive illness or manic depression) is a mental disorder that causes unusual shifts in mood, energy, activity levels, concentration, and the ability to carry out day-to-day tasks.

(MedlinePlus) Bipolar disorder is a mood disorder that can cause intense mood swings. Along with the mood swings, bipolar disorder causes changes in behavior, energy levels, and activity levels.

(American Psychological Association) Bipolar disorder is a serious mental illness in which common emotions become intensely and often unpredictably magnified. Individuals with bipolar disorder can quickly swing from extremes of happiness, energy, and clarity to sadness, fatigue, and confusion. These shifts can be so devastating that individuals may consider suicide.

(MedlinePlus) Cyclothymic disorder is a mental disorder. It is a mild form of bipolar disorder (manic depressive illness), in which a person has mood swings over a period of years that go from mild depression to emotional highs.

(National Library of Medicine) Cyclothymia is an affective disorder characterized by emotional reactivity and affective dysregulation. Often this disorder presents a challenge for the clinician as many patients present with non-specific symptoms and may be mistaken for similarly manifesting psychiatric disorders. This activity will review the evaluation, diagnosis, and treatment of cyclothymia and highlights the importance of an interprofessional team in its treatment.

(National Institute of Mental Health) Depression (major depressive disorder or clinical depression) is a common but serious mood disorder. It causes severe symptoms that affect how you feel, think, and handle daily activities, such as sleeping, eating, or working. To be diagnosed with depression, the symptoms must be present for at least two weeks.

(MedlinePlus) Depression is a serious medical illness. It's more than just a feeling of being sad or "blue" for a few days. If you are one of the more than 19 million teens and adults in the United States who have depression, the feelings do not go away. They persist and interfere with your everyday life.

(American Psychiatric Association) For most women, having a baby is a very exciting, joyous, and often anxious time. But for women with peripartum, (formerly postpartum), depression it can become very distressing and difficult. Peripartum depression refers to depression occurring during pregnancy or after childbirth. The use of the term peripartum recognizes that depression associated with having a baby often begins during pregnancy.

(MedlinePlus) Persistent depressive disorder (PDD) is a chronic (ongoing) type of depression in which a person's moods are regularly low. Persistent depressive disorder used to be called dysthymia.

(MedlinePlus) Premenstrual dysphoric disorder (PMDD) is a condition in which a woman has severe depression symptoms, irritability, and tension before menstruation. The symptoms of PMDD are more severe than those seen with premenstrual syndrome (PMS).

(Cleveland Clinic) Premenstrual dysphoric disorder (PMDD) is a more serious form of premenstrual syndrome (PMS). It causes physical and emotional symptoms every menstrual cycle in the week or two before your period. PMS causes bloating, headaches and breast tenderness.

(National Institute of Mental Health) Many people go through short periods of time where they feel sad or not like their usual selves. Sometimes, these mood changes begin and end when the seasons change. People may start to feel “down” when the days get shorter in the fall and winter (also called “winter blues”) and begin to feel better in the spring, with longer daylight hours.
In some cases, these mood changes are more serious and can affect how a person feels, thinks, and handles daily activities. If you have noticed significant changes in your mood and behavior whenever the seasons change, you may be suffering from seasonal affective disorder (SAD), a type of depression.

(Johns Hopkins Medicine) Seasonal affective disorder, or SAD, is type of depression. It happens during certain seasons of the year—most often fall or winter. It is thought that shorter days and less daylight may trigger a chemical change in the brain leading to symptoms of depression

(MedlinePlus) Seasonal affective disorder (SAD) is a type of depression that comes and goes with the seasons. It usually starts in the late fall and early winter and goes away during the spring and summer. Some people do have episodes of depression that start in the spring or summer, but that is a lot less common.

(American Psychiatric Association) Seasonal affective disorder* is a form of depression also known as SAD, seasonal depression or winter depression. In the Diagnostic Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5), this disorder is identified as a type of depression – Major Depressive Disorder with Seasonal Pattern.

(Harvard Health Publishing) Light therapy can help you avoid seasonal affective disorder.

(American Psychiatric Association) Bipolar disorder is a brain disorder that causes changes in a person's mood, energy, and ability to function. People with bipolar disorder experience intense emotional states that typically occur during distinct periods of days to weeks, called mood episodes. These mood episodes are categorized as manic/hypomanic (abnormally happy or irritable mood) or depressive (sad mood). People with bipolar disorder generally have periods of neutral mood as well. When treated, people with bipolar disorder can lead full and productive lives.

(American Psychiatric Association) Depression (major depressive disorder) is a common and serious medical illness that negatively affects how you feel, the way you think and how you act. Fortunately, it is also treatable. Depression causes feelings of sadness and/or a loss of interest in activities you once enjoyed. It can lead to a variety of emotional and physical problems and can decrease your ability to function at work and at home.