Bipolar Disorder
• At the opposite pole from depression is mania, an
abnormally high state of exhilaration.
• In bipolar disorder, a person experiences episodes
of both depression and mania, typically alternating
between the two.
• Writers, artists, musicians, and scientists have
also suffered from this disorder.
– Example: Mark Twain
• Vulnerability–stress models of depression (or any
other disorder) highlight interactions between:
– individual vulnerabilities and
– stressful experiences
• Because depression is moderately heritable, the
search for specific genes continues.
– Studies of serotonin have not been conclusive and their
findings have not been successfully replicated.
• Experiences with violence and parental neglect,
especially in childhood, increase the risk of
developing major depression in adulthood.
• The loss of important relationships can also set off
depression in vulnerable individuals.
• Many depressed people have a history of:
– separations
– losses
– rejections, and
– impaired, insecure attachments
• Cognitive habits also play a role:
– believing that the origin of one’s unhappiness is
permanent and uncontrollable
– feeling hopeless and pessimistic, and
– brooding or ruminating about one’s problems
• The combination of factors for depression can
vary in individuals.
• The same sad event can affect two people entirely
differently.
• Personality disorders involve impairments in
personality that:
– cause great distress to an individual or
– impair his or her ability to get along with others
• They also involve the presence of pathological
traits such as:
– excessive hostility or
• At the opposite pole from depression is mania, an
abnormally high state of exhilaration.
• In bipolar disorder, a person experiences episodes
of both depression and mania, typically alternating
between the two.
• Writers, artists, musicians, and scientists have
also suffered from this disorder.
– Example: Mark Twain
• Vulnerability–stress models of depression (or any
other disorder) highlight interactions between:
– individual vulnerabilities and
– stressful experiences
• Because depression is moderately heritable, the
search for specific genes continues.
– Studies of serotonin have not been conclusive and their
findings have not been successfully replicated.
• Experiences with violence and parental neglect,
especially in childhood, increase the risk of
developing major depression in adulthood.
• The loss of important relationships can also set off
depression in vulnerable individuals.
• Many depressed people have a history of:
– separations
– losses
– rejections, and
– impaired, insecure attachments
• Cognitive habits also play a role:
– believing that the origin of one’s unhappiness is
permanent and uncontrollable
– feeling hopeless and pessimistic, and
– brooding or ruminating about one’s problems
• The combination of factors for depression can
vary in individuals.
• The same sad event can affect two people entirely
differently.
• Personality disorders involve impairments in
personality that:
– cause great distress to an individual or
– impair his or her ability to get along with others
• They also involve the presence of pathological
traits such as:
– excessive hostility or
