Mood and Emotion in Major Depression

Mood and emotion in major depression

ABSTRACT—Nothing is more familiar to people than their moods and emotions. Oddly, however, it is not clear how these two kinds of affective processes are related. Intui- tively, it makes sense that emotional reactions are stronger when they are congruent with a preexisting mood, an idea reinforced by contemporary emotion theory. Yet empiri- cally, it is uncertain whether moods actually facilitate emotional reactivity to mood-congruent stimuli. One ap- proach to the question of how moods affect emotions is to study mood-disturbed individuals. This review describes recent experimental studies of emotional reactivity con- ducted with individuals suffering from major depression. Counter to intuitions, major depression is associated with reduced emotional reactivity to sad contexts. A novel ac- count of emotions in depression is advanced to assimilate these findings. Implications for the study of depression and normal mood variation are considered.

KEYWORDS—depression; emotion; mood; affect; reactivity

Isn’t it a common experience that moods make people more emotionally volatile? For example, don’t irritable moods make it easier for even a minor slight to trigger outbursts of rage? Don’t anxious moods make people so jumpy that a few strange noises in the night will provoke full panic and terror? This article considers the interplay of moods and emotions, by focusing on studies that examine one mood (depressed mood) and one emotion (sadness) in one population (clinically depressed persons). I first consider the intuitive hypothesis that major depression facilitates sad emotional reactions. Second, I describe a series of experiments that yielded results largely inconsistent with this idea. Third, I assimilate these novel findings into an alternative framework for understanding emotions in major depression. Finally, I highlight three directions for future research on the interaction between mood and emotion.

DOES DEPRESSED...