Happiness, sadness, compassion, resentment, despair: just some of the feelings and moods that characterize the lives of each one of us. They are part and parcel of our everyday lives and they affect everything we do, like a kind of mental climate that surrounds and permeates our activities and thoughts. But what exactly are these ever-present feelings and moods?

Here the leading psychiatrist Christophe Andre analyses feelings and moods as the contents of consciousness that mix together emotions and thoughts, the background sensations and impressions that are less intense than primary emotions like anger but longer lasting and more influential - a slight feeling of guilt can poison the entire day. Their impact is more comprehensive because they owe their existence not to a particular situation or event that triggers them but rather to our relationship with the world in general.

Drawing on his own practice as a psychiatrist, Andre explores some of the most important feelings and moods and shows how, by understanding them better, we can achieve a calmer, happier and more fulfilling life.

Written in the fresh and accessible style that has won him a large international following, Feelings and Moods will appeal to a wide readership.

Books by Christophe Andre (University of Paris X, Nanterre)