Mixed Mood States definitions: Do they really matter?

There has been a surge of interest in mixed mood states, partly fueled by the recent editions of the two systems for mental disorders, the DSM-5 and ICD-11, respectively. During the discussions which followed the release of these editions, two dilemmas emerged. The first dilemma (D1) is whether mixed mood states should be actually considered as discrete episodes beyond manic and depressive episodes. The second dilemma (D2) is whether mixed symptoms are a mixture of manic and depressive symptoms, or constitute separate mood symptoms.