Structured group and individual therapy several days a week, useful during a hard stretch or while a new medication plan is finding its footing. You live at home throughout.
What we treat
Mood disorder treatment
in Houston
When your mood runs the day instead of the other way around, whether it is a heaviness that will not lift or a swing between highs and lows, it can be hard to believe steadier ground is possible. Mood disorders are common, they are real, and they are treatable. We help you find an even keel, at a pace that works for your life.
Outpatient care in Montrose, Houston. Most major insurance accepted.
Understanding mood disorders
More than ordinary ups and downs
Everyone has good days and bad days. A mood disorder is different: a persistent shift in your emotional state, whether down into depression or up into mania, that lasts well beyond the ordinary highs and lows and reaches into sleep, energy, appetite, and the ability to think clearly.
Mood disorders are among the most common mental health conditions. The National Institute of Mental Health estimates that about one in five U.S. adults will experience a mood disorder at some point in their lives. None of that makes it a personal failing, and none of it means you are stuck with it.
Mood disorder is really a family of conditions, and naming the specific one matters, because the right treatment depends on it. Major depression and persistent depressive disorder (dysthymia) sit on the depressive side. Bipolar I, bipolar II, and cyclothymia involve swings between highs and lows. Some people experience a seasonal pattern, with symptoms that deepen in the darker months. Care begins with understanding your particular situation rather than reaching for a single answer.
What it feels like
Common signs
and symptoms.
Mood disorders look different from person to person and from one condition to the next, but they tend to show up in a few recognizable ways. Most people notice several of these at once.
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A persistent low
Lasting sadness or an empty, flat mood, loss of interest in things you used to enjoy, and a sense of hopelessness that lingers most of the day rather than passing with the week. This is the depressive side common to most mood disorders.
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An elevated or agitated high
Stretches of unusually high energy, racing thoughts, fast speech, irritability, and a sharply reduced need for sleep, sometimes spilling into impulsive decisions. This elevated pole points toward bipolar disorder.
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The toll on body and mind
Changes in sleep and appetite, low energy, trouble concentrating or making decisions, and pulling away from people and routines. These show up across mood disorders, whichever direction the mood is pulling.
When to reach out
When it may be time
for more support.
Mood disorders exist on a spectrum, and the right level of care changes with it. These are signs it is worth reaching out, and signs it cannot wait.
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It has settled in and stayed
A low mood, or a cycle of highs and lows, that lasts more than a couple of weeks rather than easing on its own is worth talking to someone about.
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It is reaching into daily life
Your mood is affecting work, school, sleep, or relationships, or you are pulling away from the people and routines that usually keep you steady.
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The swings are widening
The highs and lows are getting harder to manage, the steadier stretches between them are shrinking, or what used to settle on its own no longer does.
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It is an emergency
Any thought of harming yourself, or a manic episode with a loss of touch with reality, needs help right away. Call or text 988 or go to the nearest emergency room. Once you are safe, outpatient care can take over the ongoing work.
Our approach
How we treat
mood disorders.
At The Lovett Center, mood disorder treatment is built around you. Care begins with a careful assessment and an accurate diagnosis, then we match the therapy, the medication, and the level of structure to what you actually need, and we adjust as you get better.
The National Institute of Mental Health describes mood disorders as treatable, commonly with psychotherapy, medication, or a combination of the two. That is the approach we take, weighted to what works for you and for the particular condition you are living with.
For depression, therapy is often the foundation, and cognitive behavioral therapy has strong evidence behind it. For bipolar disorder, medication management usually sits at the center of care. When medication is part of the plan, our psychiatrists, including Chad Lemaire, MD, work with you to find it, track how it is working, and adjust over time. We pay attention to the everyday foundations too: sleep, routine, and reconnecting with the people and activities a mood disorder tends to crowd out.
Mood disorders are often long-term, so we build for the long term: not just lifting the current episode, but helping you stay well after it lifts.
- A thorough clinical and psychiatric assessment
- An accurate diagnosis of the specific mood disorder
- Medication management when it will help
- Therapy, steady routines, and co-occurring care
Treatment options
Where mood disorder treatment
can start.
Mood disorders are treated successfully on an outpatient basis, with the intensity matched to the moment. More structure during a hard stretch, a steadier pace once things settle. If you are not sure where to begin, we will help you figure it out.
Regular individual sessions and medication management at a steadier pace. For many people with a mood disorder, this is where long-term stability is maintained.
Our most intensive outpatient level: full days of structured treatment, with the freedom to go home each night. A way to stabilize a severe episode without an inpatient stay.
How we work
Therapies we use
for mood disorders.
No single approach works for everyone. These are the ones we most often combine for mood disorders, matched to your diagnosis and to what fits you.
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Medication management
For many mood disorders, the right medication, whether an antidepressant or a mood stabilizer, steadies symptoms enough that therapy and daily life become workable. Our psychiatrists find the plan, monitor it, and adjust over time.
About medication management -
Psychodynamic therapy
Depth-oriented work that helps you understand the patterns beneath shifting moods, the foundation the rest of your care builds on.
About psychodynamic therapy -
Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT)
A well-studied, practical approach. CBT helps you notice the thought patterns that feed a low mood, recognize the early signs of a shift, and build routines that keep moods steadier.
CBT for mood disorders -
Dialectical behavior therapy (DBT)
When mood comes with intense or hard-to-manage emotion, DBT teaches concrete skills for steadying it, tolerating distress, and staying grounded through a difficult day.
Explore DBT -
Group therapy
A mood disorder tends to isolate. A supportive group is a place to be understood, learn from others walking a similar path, and rebuild the connection that is itself part of recovery.
Explore group therapy
The mood-disorder family
Conditions we treat
within mood disorders.
Mood disorder is an umbrella over several conditions. These are the ones we most often treat, each with its own path of care. When more than one is in play, we treat them together in a single plan.
Major depression and persistent low-grade depression (dysthymia) are the most common mood disorders. We treat depression on an outpatient basis, with therapy and medication when it helps.
Bipolar disorder brings episodes of mania or hypomania alongside depression. Naming it accurately matters, because its treatment differs from depression alone.
Mood disorders and substance use often overlap, and each can deepen the other. Integrated care treats both together rather than one at a time.
Common questions
Mood disorder treatment,
answered.
Treatment starts with a thorough assessment to understand your history, your symptoms, and which mood disorder you are living with, since an accurate diagnosis shapes everything that follows. From there we build a plan that usually pairs therapy with medication management when it will help. Care is delivered on an outpatient basis through our outpatient program, intensive outpatient program, or partial hospitalization program, depending on how much structure you need right now. You live at home throughout.
Both are mood disorders, but they move differently. Depression is a persistent low or empty mood, often with a loss of interest, low energy, and changes in sleep or appetite. Bipolar disorder adds episodes of elevated or agitated mood, called mania or hypomania, that swing against the lows. The distinction matters because the treatment differs, which is why a careful assessment comes first.
Bipolar disorder careNot always. Many people with depression improve with therapy alone, while for bipolar disorder medication is usually the foundation of care. We talk it through with you rather than assuming one path, and when medication is part of the plan our psychiatrists monitor it and adjust over time.
About medication managementYes. The great majority of mood disorders are treated successfully on an outpatient basis, where you receive care during the day or week and go home each night. Even our most intensive level, the partial hospitalization program, is outpatient: full days of structured treatment with the freedom to return home. If symptoms ever reach a crisis, we help you get to emergency care first, then take over the ongoing work once you are safe.
In many cases, yes. The Lovett Center is in network with major insurers including Aetna, Blue Cross Blue Shield, Cigna, UnitedHealthcare, Optum, Magellan, and TriWest, and we also work with out-of-network benefits and self-pay. Coverage varies by plan, so the surest way to know is to verify your benefits with us.
Verify your insuranceThat combination is common, and treating one while ignoring the other rarely holds. Our dual diagnosis care addresses the mood disorder and the substance use together in a single, coordinated plan, so the two are not working against each other in recovery.
Dual diagnosis careYou are not alone
Steadier ground is
within reach.
Whatever your mood has been doing, it has a name, and it has a way through.
When you are ready, a real person at The Lovett Center will listen and help you find the next step. No pressure, no commitment, just a conversation.
Every conversation is confidential. In a crisis, call or text 988 any time to reach the Suicide and Crisis Lifeline.