Mood Disorders

Mood is a state of mind where an emotion predominates (anxious mood, bad mood or good mood). An emotion is a general feeling that colours behaviour and the reading of the world around the individual (anger, sadness, joy, etc.) in a sustained way.

Depression

Depression is a period of time (typically at least two weeks) when a person feels sad or experiences a marked decrease in interest in activities of daily living on an almost constant basis. Other symptoms may include weight loss or gain, insomnia or hypersomnia, psychomotor slowing or agitation, fatigue, feelings of worthlessness or guilt, loss of concentration, recurring thoughts of death.

Bipolar disorder

Bipolar disorder usually refers to the presence of periods of depression and periods of mania (formerly manic-depressive disorder). The manic phases manifest themselves by an increase in self-esteem or ideas of grandeur, a reduction in the need for sleep, a constant need to talk, a great distractibility or an excessive involvement in certain activities (shopping, sexual behaviour, etc.).

Somatoform Disorders

Stress Management

It is important to distinguish between these three “shrinks”, on the one hand because confusion is often made by neophytes, and on the other hand because the differences provide important information about the clinical psychologist. Indeed, it should be remembered that psychiatrists have undergone medical training, which gives them the right, for example, to prescribe medicines and have their benefits reimbursed by social security, rights to which the clinical psychologist and his patients do not have access, even though some mutual insurance companies recognize the importance of psychological care and do in fact provide it.