Affective spectrum

The affective spectrum is a spectrum of affective disorders (mood disorders).[1] It is a grouping of related psychiatric and medical disorders which may accompany bipolar, unipolar, and schizoaffective disorders at statistically higher rates than would normally be expected. These disorders are identified by a common positive response to the same types of pharmacologic treatments. They also aggregate strongly in families and may therefore share common heritable underlying physiologic anomalies.

Affective spectrum disorders include:

• Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder[2][3]
• Bipolar disorder
• Body dysmorphic disorder
• Bulimia nervosa[2][3] and other eating disorders
• Cataplexy[2][3]
• Dysthymia[3]
• Generalized anxiety disorder[3]
• Hypersexuality
• Irritable bowel syndrome[2][3]
• Impulse-control disorders
• Kleptomania
• Migraine[2][3]
• Major depressive disorder[2][3]
• Obsessive-compulsive disorder[2][3]
• Oppositional defiant disorder
• Panic disorder[2][3]
• Posttraumatic stress disorder[3]
• Premenstrual dysphoric disorder[3]
• Social anxiety disorder[3]
• Fibromyalgia[3]

The following may also be part of the spectrum accompanying affective disorders.

• Chronic pain
• Intermittent explosive disorder[4]
• Pathological gambling
• Personality disorder
• Pyromania
• Substance abuse and addiction (includes alcoholism)
• Trichotillomania

Also, there are now studies linking heart disease.[5]

Many of the terms above overlap. The American Psychiatric Association's definitions of these terms can be found in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM).