What are Organic (Affective) Mood Disorders

Affective disorders occur in almost all endocrine diseases and most often in patients who are treated with hormones during their withdrawal.

What triggers Organic (affective) disorders mood:

The common causes are an endocrine disease (hyperthyroidism, pituitary – Cushing, thyroidectomy, premenstrual and menopausal syndromes), hormonal drugs in patients with bronchial asthma, rheumatoid arthritis, intoxication and overdose of vitamins and antihypertensive drugs, head injuries, tumors of the frontal lobes.

Symptoms of organic (affective) mood disorders:

Affective disorders are manifested in the form of depression, mania, bipolar disorder, or mixed. Indirectly, organic background can be identified by a combination of these disorders with a decrease in activity down to the reduction of energy potential, asthenia, changes in desire (endocrine psihosindrom), as well as symptoms of cognitive deficits. In history you can find episodes of organic delirium. Manic episodes occur with euphoria and unproductive euphoria (Moria) in the structure of depression is characterized by dysphoria, mood swings. By the evening mania may be depleted, and depression in the evening increases fatigue. In bipolar disorders affect is associated with the passage of the basic pathology, and the seasonality is not typical.

Clinical Example: Patient L., 52 years old. After thyroidectomy, and on the background of menopause has become sad and withdrawn. She quickly got tired at work in the evening, completely lost her appetite, become awake at night and could no longer sleep. She noticed that she burden to her relatives, because in the house she was no longer doing anything, she always layed in bed. Already in the morning it was hard to get out of bed. In connection with her own uselessness and cumbersome suicidal thoughts appeared. She noticed that not only she was very thin, but older. She complained of feeling in the chest compression and lack of air during inhalation .As the leader of a small company, she no longer controled her subordinates, because she was not sure that was giving the correct directions.

Diagnosis of Organic (affective) mood disorders:

It is based on identifying the underlying disease and atypia of affective disorders. Typically, affective disorders may be manic, depressive, bipolar, or mixed.

Differential diagnosis

Disorder should be differentiated from affective disorders due to residual substance dependence, with endogenous affective disorders, symptoms of frontal atrophy.

Affective disorders due to residual drug use can be identified by history, the frequent presence of typical psychosis (delirium and mood disorders in the period of abstinence) in history, a combination of affective disorders in a clinic of pseudoparalysis or Korsakov violations.

Endogenous affective disorders are characterized by typical diurnal and seasonal changes, lack of organic neurologic symptoms, although there may be secondary endocrine disorders (delayed menstruation, involution).

Symptoms of frontal atrophy is characterized by a combination of affective disorders with symptoms of E. Robertson (see Pick’s disease).

Treatment of Organic (affective) mood disorders

In the treatment of organic affective disorders should be aware that patients may be abnormally responsive to psychoactive drugs, that is, the therapy should be cautious. In the treatment of depression it should be preferred Prozac, Zoloft and lerivon, for the prevention of bipolar disorders – phenytoin, carbamazepine, and depakin, for the treatment of manic states – carbamazepine, beta-blockers, tranquilizers, and a small dose of tizertsina. All the mentioned therapy is seen as symptomatic, should pay attention to the treatment of the underlying disease. Of nootropics and should be preferred Phenibut Pantogram as other nootropics may increase anxiety, restlessness.