Types of Mood Disorders. Unipolar disorder, known as depression, is one of the most common mood disorders and can range from mild to life-threatening. It can appear at any age, and one in five women and one in 10 men will experience one of the following forms of depression sometime in their lives. Clinical depression refers to a condition serious enough to require professional treatment. A person who experiences severe depression during a single period is said to have had an episode of clinical depression.
Major depression is marked by more severe or exaggerated symptoms.
When a person exhibits depressive symptoms, however mild, on a frequent or constant basis, that person likely suffers from a dysthymic disorder. When a major depressive episode strikes someone with dysthymia, it is called double depression. Some forms of mood disorders are limited to women. Mood disorders may also occur in women during menopause. In any of these cases, physicians believe that the severe depressions are a sign that another affective disorder already exists.