General principles -- Definitions -- Causes -- Epidemiology -- History of current concepts -- Diagnosis -- Preparation of making diagnoses -- Diagnosis and evaluation -- Formal diagnostic classifications -- Psychodynamics and psychopathology: developmental issues -- Differential diagnosis -- Borderlands of mood disorders -- Suicide and the mood disorders -- Treatment and management -- Strategy -- Biological therapy -- Psychotherapy -- Combined treatment: drugs and psychotherapy -- Course, outcome, and prognosis -- Affective disorders and the life cycle -- Childhood -- Adolescence -- Early adult life -- Late life.