Sleep and circadian functioning has been of particular interest to researchers focused on improving treatments for psychiatric illness. The goal of the present paper is to highlight the exciting research that utilizes basic sleep and circadian science as building blocks for intervention in the mood disorders. The reviewed evidence suggests that the sleep and circadian systems are a) disrupted in the mood disorders and linked to symptoms, b) open systems that can be modified, c) the focus of interventions which have been developed to effectively treat sleep disturbance within mood disorders, and d) intimately linked with mood, such that improvements in sleep are associated with improvements in mood. Although significant positive treatment effects are evident, more research is needed to fill the gap in our basic understanding of the relationship between sleep and mood.