affective disorder
Noun: A type of mental illness characterized primarily by a significant and persistent disturbance in a person's mood or emotional state. These disorders are not attributed to identifiable physical damage or disease in the brain.
The term is used in clinical, psychological, and psychiatric contexts to categorize a group of mental health conditions where emotional dysregulation is the core feature. * Major depressive disorder is a common affective disorder. * The study focused on the treatment outcomes for various affective disorders. * Her research specializes in the neurobiology of affective disorders.
- "Bipolar affective disorder": A specific term often used interchangeably with "bipolar disorder," emphasizing the condition's classification within the mood disorder spectrum. It describes a disorder characterized by alternating episodes of depression and mania or hypomania.
- He was diagnosed with bipolar affective disorder in his early twenties.
- Mood disorder: This is a largely synonymous term more commonly used in contemporary diagnostic manuals (like the DSM-5). "Affective disorder" and "mood disorder" are often used interchangeably, though "mood disorder" is the preferred clinical term in modern psychiatry.
- Affective (adjective): Relating to moods, feelings, and attitudes.
- The patient showed significant affective instability.
- Mood disorder
- Emotional disorder
The term has a specific clinical meaning and is not used in general, non-medical language. It does not refer to temporary sadness or happiness but to diagnosed psychiatric conditions.
- any mental disorder not caused by detectable organic abnormalities of the brain and in which a major disturbance of emotions is predominant