Introduction
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The term mood disorder refers to a range of conditions in which a disturbance of mood is the central feature. Most of us experience low moods as the natural consequences of loss or disappointment and a common response to success or achievement is an elevated mood. In a mood disorder the mood may be abnormally lowered as in depression or abnormally elevated as in mania. In psychiatry we need to distinguish between these natural "lows" and "highs" and pathological mood states. This can create confusion in both terminology and diagnosis.
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