We discuss the definition and measurement of mood instability, and review its prevalence, characteristics, neurobiological correlates and clinical implications.
The definition and measurement of mood instability in our study conceptualised the construct as a binary variable (present or absent) and did not collect data on the frequency or severity of the instability, which may be important to predict future illness course.
First, because our review was based on DSM-IV definitions of the mood and anxiety disorders, we performed a systematic search of the peer-reviewed literature using the Index Medicus and ISI Web of Knowledge databases.
We restricted our review to psychiatric definitions of common mood and anxiety disorders and, as such, these disorders were selected based on the taxonomy of the DSM-IV [ 21].
She used the same grandiose scale, however, and the same generalized definition of word and mood in the little songs and in the big arias.
In sensitivity analyses, we analysed separately each of the three diagnostic categories included in the definition of psychiatric conditions (mood conditions, anxiety conditions, and psychoses).
The RDC definition focuses on temporal co-occurrence of a major affective syndrome with specific types of psychotic features, whereas the focus of the DSM IV definition is temporal separation of mood and psychotic symptomatology without reference to the quality of the psychotic features.
And, he wrote, the story is presented "with remarkable visual definition of developing intrigue and mood".
Although not explicitly linked to mood state, these items are based both on Nolen-Hoeksema's (1991) definition of rumination implicating focus on mood and its causes and on Martin and Tesser's (1996) conceptualisation of rumination as relating to focus on unresolved problems (see also Lyubomirsky, Tucker, Caldwell, & Berg, 1999).
(By definition, mercurial behavior is characterized by rapid and unpredictable changes of mood).
