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Personality and Mood Disorders: What Are Their Differences?

By Nicole McCance @nicole_mccance · On July 11, 2012

Many people don’t understand the differences between a Mood disorder and Personality Disorder. To distinguish between the two, first we have to understand what “mood” and “personality” are.

Mood – the temporary state of mind or feeling. It lasts for hours to days. Therefore it is more stable than changeable emotional feelings (e.g., anger, happiness, sadness)

Personality – the combination and interaction of a person’s thoughts, feelings and behaviours. Personality usually lasts for a lifetime and is therefore more stable than mood.

Mood Disorder – a person’s mood (change) is extreme and is prohibiting him or her from normal functioning in daily life tasks. For example, you feel depressed persistently to the extent that you cannot go to work every day and you have frequent thoughts related to hopelessness and feelings of worthlessness.

Personality Disorder – a person has traits that cause them to behave in ways that are considered outside the norm. These certain behaviours and emotions cause them distress. Similar to your personality, personality disorders are relatively constant. These traits usually manifest in the persons teens or early 20s.

Examples of Mood Disorders: Major Depressive Disorder, Bipolar Disorder and Panic Disorder.

Examples of Personality Disorders: Borderline Personality Disorder, Narcissistic Personality Disorder, and Obsessive-Compulsive Personality Disorder.

Research has shown that medications don’t tend to reduce the symptoms associated with Personality Disorders. For example, clients with Narcissistic Personality Disorder are often prescribed antidepressants to treat their related anxiety and depression, but not the traits related to their personality disorder. However, psychotherapy, which aims at changing client’s thought patterns, feelings and behaviors, would be a more effective way to ameliorate the traits associated with Personality Disorders, as these traits are more stable and constant than symptoms associated with Mood Disorders.

Nicole McCance

Nominated, RBC Women Entrepreneur of the Year, Nicole McCance M.A. is a fully licensed Psychological Associate. Her services are covered under extended health care and she is licensed to diagnose mental disorders. Nicole is also an author of the best-selling book 52 Ways to Beat Depression Naturally. She has over 9 years of formal university education and has completed a certificate program in trauma and recovery from Harvard Medical School. She has a M.A in Counselling Psychology from the University of Toronto, a B.A. in Criminology and a B.A with Honours in Psychology from Carleton University. Nicole owns Nicole McCance Psychology, which has over 10 counselling locations providing both individual and couples counselling across the GTA. Over 120 individuals and couples receive counselling every month through Nicole McCance Psychology. She has been providing counselling and assessment services for the past 10 years across North America and in Russia. She has been a frequent contributor to media outlets such as CP24, CTV News, CTV National, Global TV,City TV, CBC News, Rogers, CBC Radio, ABC Spark, E!, the Toronto Star and Canadian Living. You can visit her website at nicolemccance.com.

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