Mood and anxiety disorders in children and adolescents have been widely examined empirically, yet relatively few studies have focused on the effects of these disorders on developing EF skills. This lack of knowledge regarding a core cognitive capacity has hampered efforts at understanding and addressing potential disruptions in problem solving, memory, and engagement that often co-occur with mood and anxiety disorders.

Mood disorders

Mood disorders include diagnoses for which the primary symptoms are a change in emotional state. This category of psychopathology includes significantly elevated or depressed mood, inappropriate affect, or a limited range of feelings, and is diagnostically composed of major depressive disorder (MDD), bipolar disorder (BD), cyclothymic disorder, and dysthymic disorder in the DSM-IV-TR. In the upcoming DSM-5, this group of disorders will likely be divided further into two categories, bipolar and related disorders and depressive disorders. While few changes to the diagnosis of MDD are anticipated, the criteria for BD will likely be developmentally based, and include increased specificity in order to capture the presentation of manic symptoms observed in children. The DSM-5 may include a new disorder, temper dysregulation disorder with dysphoria (TDD), characterized by temper outbursts that begin before 10 years of age, although its inclusion remains both controversial and uncertain.