Mood Disorder Treatment & Symptoms

Mood disorders are psychological conditions characterized by mood changes. In particular, individuals with mood disorders have extremely elevated (high) mood or depressed (low) mood — or both.

Mood disorders — including major depressive disorder, bipolar disorder, persistent depressive disorder, cyclothymia, and seasonal affective disorder — are complex illnesses, but effective treatment is available.

Mood disorders have a genetic link. You may be more likely to be diagnosed with a mood disorder if a close relative also has a mood disorder.

Mood disorders, including major depression and bipolar disorder, are a leading cause of hospitalization of adults age 18-44. When these illnesses are not treated, they often get worse — with a risk of serious complications, physical harm, or death.

The good news is that help is available and that a number of therapies are effective for mood disorders. With a combination of psychotherapy, medication and complementary supports, you can recover from a mood disorder — no matter how complex your illness is or how challenging your life has become.

At Pathlight, our specially-trained professionals can help you find balance and healing from whatever issues you are dealing with. In treatment, we support your work in recovery as you learn about your moods, connect with your values, and build, maintain, and improve relationships in your life.

You may be familiar with what depression is, and you may even be familiar with bipolar disorder. But many people are less familiar with the term “mood disorder.” A mood disorder is a psychological condition characterized by serious changes in one’s moods — typically persistently low (depressed) or persistently high (manic). These moods are above and beyond what most would consider to be typical feelings of sadness or happiness.

The most common mood disorders include:

• Major depressive disorder — extremely low moods
• Bipolar disorder — extremely high (manic, euphoric or hyperactive) and low moods
• Persistent depressive disorder — depression that lasts more than three years
• Cyclothymia — a less severe form of bipolar disorder that may include hypomania and episodes of moderate depression
• Seasonal affective disorder — depression that occurs only during the winter, when there is less sunlight

If you are seeking a residential or partial hospitalization program for a mood disorder, life has probably become overwhelming. We want you to know that you are not alone in this! Our doctors and therapists will guide you through recovery, teach you helpful tools, and offer you new ways to manage your thoughts, emotions, behavioral, and physical reactions to life’s challenges.

Learn about transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) for depression.

As you compare your options of where to seek treatment for a mood disorder, we encourage you to consider a number of factors. One of the most important factors that you should consider is each treatment team’s professional experience and expertise. This list below shows the depth and breadth of the training and backgrounds of the clinical staff that work here at Pathlight:

• Our doctors and therapists are highly educated and credentialed. Pathlight Behavioral Health Centers employs many MDs and PhDs/PsyDs with extensive training in mood disorders.
• The staff at Pathlight value and pursue ongoing education and training on the latest, most effective treatments that help patients overcome mood disorders, such as Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT), Cognitive Behavior Therapy (CBT), Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT), Radically Open DBT (RO-DBT), and Behavioral Activation.
• Our clinicians are trained in multi-cultural competency and are experienced in working with patients of all genders and from diverse backgrounds.
• We are familiar with treating a range of severity, a range of diagnoses, and a range of different life experiences.
• Our experts know how to support someone through common feelings related to mood disorders such as pervasive loneliness, overwhelm, loss, anger, hopelessness, and helplessness.

Should you choose to seek treatment at Pathlight, we will tailor your mood disorder treatment based on your needs and priorities. We do this through the use of individual and group therapy. During your one-on-one meetings with your therapist you will be able to map out your treatment goals and, in groups, you can explore how to get there. We use the power of knowledge to help you break the maladaptive patterns in your life, teach you how to manage your moods, and help you move toward a more fulfilling life.

Specific therapies are known to help people with mood disorders, and we are proud that all of our clinicians either specialize in — or have extensive training in — the following mood disorder treatments:

• Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT)
• Radically Open Dialectical Behavior Therapy (RO-DBT)
• Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT)
• Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) including Behavioral Activation & Exposure and Response Prevention (ERP)

These therapies have been found to be the most effective, evidence-based treatments for mood disorders.

In addition, our on-site psychiatrists provide regular medication management for all of the patients in our Residential and Partial Hospitalization Programs (PHP).

During your time at Pathlight, a primary goal will be to help you learn how to regulate your emotions safely and effectively. To support our patients in these explorations, our therapists will work with you to address the wellness of your mind, body and spirit with experiential therapies (movement, art, and yoga).

Each week, your individual therapist will work closely with you to make sure that you are making progress in treatment. We customize treatment to each individual and do our best to ensure that each patient receives specialized therapy in their work with us.

One of the challenges of mood disorder treatment is that every patient has a different story and will respond differently to medications and talk therapy. Over the first month of treatment, you will become familiar with our evidence-based therapies and can start using your new skills on a regular basis.

You may find it promising to know that most of our patients experience symptom reduction within the first 11 days.

As far as treatment effectiveness, we’ve queried patients over the years and found that our patients experience statistically significant decreases in these areas following treatment:

• Depression
• Anxiety
• Dysfunctional attitudes
• OCD
• Trauma

Our patients also experience statistically significant increases in the areas of:

• Accomplishment
• Positive emotions
• Relationship quality
• Meaning

We invite you to review our past patients’ experiences to see what they say about treatment at Pathlight:

• 84 percent of patients who complete our partial hospitalization program report feeling satisfied with their treatment.
• 89 percent of patients who complete our intensive outpatient program report feeling satisfied with treatment.
• 86 percent of patients completing PHP and 90 percent of patients completing IOP say that they would refer a friend or family member to our treatment center.

It may be difficult to see the success that lies in your future, but we are trained to help you take the steps — no matter how big or how small — to move towards your goals, even when you are struggling. We will support you, offer our encouragement and celebrate your successes each day in treatment.