We Specialize in Treating:

• Mood Disorders
• Depression
• Bipolar Disorder

• Anxiety Disorders
• Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder
• Panic Disorder
• Phobias
• Generalized Anxiety Disorder

• Psychological Trauma
• Abuse
• Post Traumatic Stress Disorder
• Dissociative Disorders
• Fibromyalgia
• Low Self-Esteem
• Relationship Issues
• Risk Taking Behaviors
• Self Mutilation
• Unresolved Grief

Mood Disorders

What are Mood Disorders?

We hear about bipolar disorder, as if it were as common as breathing. However, it only affects about 1% of the world's population. Much more common (17% - about 5% - 10% in the US) is unipolar disorder, in which the person returns to a normal mood after depression leaves. Women are about twice as likely as men to be affected by unipolar disorder, while men and women are affected equally by bipolar disorder. This article discusses the symptoms of depression, unipolar, and bipolar disorder, as well as their possible root causes. At Bridges to Recovery, we understand depression and can help you control it. Moods come and go, and feelings of elation or sadness are understandable reactions to daily events. When we refer to "mood disorders", we are speaking of moods that either last a long time or that are very intense and debilitating. Depression and mania are the key emotions in mood disorders. The term "depression" has multiple meanings in our culture: a normal mood state and reaction to a sad event, a normal reaction to a major calamity such as in grieving, a symptom of other conditions, or a clinical state unto itself in which the person is in a low, sad state in which life seems dark and its challenges overwhelming. Most people with a mood disorder suffer from a clinical unipolar depression, and they return to a normal or nearly normal mood when the depression lifts. Mania, on the other hand, at the opposite end of the mood spectrum, is where the person experiences a state of euphoria and often greatly increased energy. When these euphoric or elevated states alternate with periods of depression, this is a condition referred to as bipolar disorder.