Mood Disorder Treatment in California

We treat mood disorders by telehealth anywhere in California. Your provider is board certified and speaks English, Punjabi, Hindi and Spanish.

Mood disorders are conditions that pull mood away from your usual self for a long time. They include major depression, persistent depressive disorder (dysthymia), bipolar I and II, cyclothymia and seasonal patterns. Naming the right one matters, because each responds to different treatment.

Mindful Sewa Psychiatry offers careful mood disorder treatment and diagnosis by telehealth anywhere in California. That includes second opinions when treatment has not been working.

A mood disorder is more than a bad week. It is a pattern where mood stays too low, too high or swings too much. It affects sleep, energy, thinking and relationships. The pattern over months and years tells more than how you feel today, which is why a careful history matters so much.

Harpal Singh, PMHNP-BC, evaluates and treats mood disorders by telehealth for patients anywhere in California. Care covers children, teens, adults and older adults, in English, Punjabi, Hindi and Spanish. If you have been treated elsewhere and still do not feel well, a psychiatric second opinion can bring a fresh look.

Signs and Symptoms of Mood Disorders

• Low mood lasting weeks, months or years
• Mood swings between highs and lows
• A low-grade gloom you have had as long as you can remember
• Mood that gets worse every winter
• Irritability as the main mood
• Loss of pleasure and drive
• Changes in sleep and appetite
• Treatments that never quite worked

How We Treat Mood Disorders by Telehealth

We start by getting the diagnosis right. We map your mood over time and screen for hypomania, a milder high that patients rarely mention on their own. We also review how past medicines worked for you.

Then we match treatment to the diagnosis. That may mean antidepressants, mood stabilizers or a mix, along with therapy and daily anchors like sleep and light. Your prescriber decides what fits.

If you have tried medicines that failed, that history is useful. It often points to the correct diagnosis.

Other Mood Conditions Worth Knowing

Beyond depression and bipolar disorder, a few lesser known conditions belong in this group. Premenstrual dysphoric disorder, or PMDD, causes severe mood changes, irritability and sadness in the week or so before a period. It eases after the period starts. It is much more than typical PMS, and it is very treatable.

In children and teens, disruptive mood dysregulation disorder involves frequent severe temper outbursts and an angry or irritable mood most days. Mood symptoms can also come from a medical condition, such as thyroid disease, or from a substance or medicine. These causes need their own treatment plan.

How Mood Disorders Are Diagnosed

Diagnosis is based on your history, your symptoms and how they change over time. We use standard screening questionnaires to measure symptoms and compare them from visit to visit. Scores guide the talk. They do not make the diagnosis alone.

A mood chart can be very helpful. Tracking your mood, sleep, energy and major events each day for a few weeks often shows a pattern that is hard to see from memory. Tracking the menstrual cycle alongside mood can point toward PMDD.

When needed, we order lab tests through a lab near you, such as thyroid levels or a blood count, and review results with you by video. Past medicine trials also matter. Which ones helped, which caused side effects and which did nothing all shape the plan.

Matching Mood Disorder Treatment to the Diagnosis

Treatment depends on the type of mood disorder. Depression often responds to antidepressants and therapy. Bipolar disorders usually need a mood stabilizer or certain antipsychotic medicines, and antidepressants are used with more caution. PMDD may be treated with an antidepressant taken all month or only in part of the cycle. Your prescriber decides what fits.

Therapy is part of good care for nearly every mood disorder. Cognitive behavioral therapy and interpersonal therapy are well studied options, and a referral is possible. Mindful Sewa offers supportive psychotherapy by video along with medication management.

Daily anchors support every plan. A steady sleep schedule, morning light, regular meals and movement help keep mood more even. For a seasonal pattern, light therapy in the darker months may be part of care. Cutting back on alcohol matters too, since it can deepen low moods and disrupt sleep for days afterward.

When to Reach Out

Book an evaluation if low mood, irritability or mood swings have lasted more than two weeks, keep coming back or are hurting your work, school or relationships. New patients are usually seen within days. The first evaluation is $250 for about 60 minutes.

If you are thinking about harming yourself, call or text 988, or call 911. Mindful Sewa is not a crisis service, but we can support your ongoing care once you are safe.

Family members often notice mood changes first. If someone you love seems stuck in a low mood, unusually wired or much more irritable than usual, a gentle, private talk is a good first step. You can share this page and offer to help them book a visit.

What to Expect at Your First Appointment

Your evaluation is a full video visit that traces your mood patterns across your whole life, not just the past month. We look at family history, sleep and past treatment. You leave with a written plan and a clear next step.

Ready to start? Book a comprehensive evaluation, review our transparent fees, or take the symptoms quiz first.

Services for Mood Disorders

• Psychiatric Evaluation
• Medication Management
• Psychotherapy

Medication Guides Related to Mood Disorders

These plain-language guides cover medicines used for mood disorders. They are background reading, not advice. Your prescriber decides what fits you at your evaluation.

• Amitriptyline (Elavil), Tricyclic antidepressant (TCA)
• Aripiprazole (Abilify), atypical antipsychotic
• Brexpiprazole (Rexulti), atypical antipsychotic
• Bupropion (Wellbutrin XL), Atypical antidepressant (norepinephrine-dopamine reuptake inhibitor)
• Carbamazepine (Tegretol), mood stabilizer / anticonvulsant
• Cariprazine (Vraylar), atypical antipsychotic
• Citalopram (Celexa), SSRI antidepressant
• Clozapine (Clozaril), atypical antipsychotic
• Desvenlafaxine (Pristiq), SNRI antidepressant
• Divalproex sodium (Depakote), mood stabilizer / anticonvulsant

Browse all medication guides

Related Reading

Articles from our provider on mood disorders and related topics.

• Lamotrigine Rash: What It Looks Like and When to Worry
• Understanding Bipolar Disorder: Signs, Types, and Treatment
• Do Antidepressants Change Your Personality? What to Know