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Lots of doctors won't give a specific diagnosis... it can be a really "squishy" thing to get hold of, so they'll say stuff like "mood disorder". Look at it this way, you've basically got two mood disorders, depression and bipolar, and most bipolars are depressed most of the time. The same drugs are used to treat both, so they don't like to be pinned down. BP can be very hard to DX.

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Actually, there are quite a few mood disorders. I can think of 10+ specific ones at the moment. If you're young or new to your doc, s/he may not be able to tell exactly which one you have yet... (i.e. bipolar and normal depression look similar, but they can be quite different) And yes, the same drugs can treat both, but they have to be used differently. Depression meds can worsen bipolar disorder.

I wouldn't get too hung up about it. A dx is just a label anyway, and mood disorder may be the most accurate label s/he can provide at the moment.