Mood tracking

Last updated

Mood tracking is a positive psychology technique for improving mental health where a person records their mood, usually at set time intervals, in order to help identify patterns in how their mood varies. It has been suggested as a self-help method for people suffering from mood disorders such as anxiety, clinical depression, and bipolar disorder. [1]

There are a variety of tools and technologies available to help individuals track their moods. Some popular options include pen and paper as well as apps for mood tracking [2] which let users track trends over time. Wearable devices like Fitbit and Apple Watch also include mood tracking features, allowing users to track their moods throughout the day and receive personalized insights and recommendations based on their data, [3] [4] [5] [6] .

While mood tracking can be a valuable tool for individuals looking to improve their mental health and well-being, there are also potential limitations and ethical concerns that should be considered. One potential limitation is the potential for self-report bias, as individuals may not accurately report their emotional states or may be influenced by social desirability bias. Additionally, consistent tracking over time is necessary for mood tracking to be effective, which may be challenging for some individuals.

It is important to note that mood tracking should not be used as a substitute for professional mental health treatment. [7] Rather, it can be a useful tool for individuals to complement their existing treatment and support overall well-being.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Creativity and mental health</span> Concept in psychology

Links between creativity and mental health have been extensively discussed and studied by psychologists and other researchers for centuries. Parallels can be drawn to connect creativity to major mental disorders including bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, major depressive disorder, anxiety disorder, OCD and ADHD. For example, studies have demonstrated correlations between creative occupations and people living with mental illness. There are cases that support the idea that mental illness can aid in creativity, but it is also generally agreed that mental illness does not have to be present for creativity to exist.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Emotional reasoning</span>

Emotional reasoning is a cognitive process by which an individual concludes that their emotional reaction proves something is true, despite contrary empirical evidence. Emotional reasoning creates an 'emotional truth', which may be in direct conflict with the inverse 'perceptional truth'. It can create feelings of anxiety, fear, and apprehension in existing stressful situations, and as such, is often associated with or triggered by panic disorder or anxiety disorder. For example, even though a spouse has shown only devotion, a person using emotional reasoning might conclude, "I know my spouse is being unfaithful because I feel jealous."

Lisa Dixon is a Professor of Psychiatry at the Columbia University Irving Medical Center and the Director of the Division of Behavioral Health Services and Policy Research within the Department of Psychiatry. Her research focuses on improving the quality of care for individuals diagnosed with serious mental illnesses. She directs the Center for Practice Innovations (CPI) at the New York State Psychiatric Institute, where she oversees the implementation of evidence-based practices for individuals with serious mental illnesses for the New York State Office of Mental Health. She leads OnTrackNY, a statewide treatment program for adolescents and young adults experiencing their first episode of psychosis.

Mental disorders are classified as a psychological condition marked primarily by sufficient disorganization of personality, mind, and emotions to seriously impair the normal psychological and often social functioning of the individual. Individuals diagnosed with certain mental disorders can be unable to function normally in society. Mental disorders may consist of several affective, behavioral, cognitive and perceptual components. The acknowledgement and understanding of mental health conditions has changed over time and across cultures. There are still variations in the definition, classification, and treatment of mental disorders.

Gender is correlated with the prevalence of certain mental disorders, including depression, anxiety and somatic complaints. For example, women are more likely to be diagnosed with major depression, while men are more likely to be diagnosed with substance abuse and antisocial personality disorder. There are no marked gender differences in the diagnosis rates of disorders like schizophrenia and bipolar disorder. Men are at risk to suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) due to past violent experiences such as accidents, wars and witnessing death, and women are diagnosed with PTSD at higher rates due to experiences with sexual assault, rape and child sexual abuse. Nonbinary or genderqueer identification describes people who do not identify as either male or female. People who identify as nonbinary or gender queer show increased risk for depression, anxiety and post-traumatic stress disorder. People who identify as transgender demonstrate increased risk for depression, anxiety, and post-traumatic stress disorder.

Self-diagnosis is the process of diagnosing, or identifying, medical conditions in oneself. It may be assisted by medical dictionaries, books, resources on the Internet, past personal experiences, or recognizing symptoms or medical signs of a condition that a family member previously had.

A suicide crisis, suicidal crisis or potential suicide is a situation in which a person is attempting to kill themselves or is seriously contemplating or planning to do so. It is considered by public safety authorities, medical practice, and emergency services to be a medical emergency, requiring immediate suicide intervention and emergency medical treatment. Suicidal presentations occur when an individual faces an emotional, physical, or social problem they feel they cannot overcome and considers suicide to be a solution. Clinicians usually attempt to re-frame suicidal crises, point out that suicide is not a solution and help the individual identify and solve or tolerate the problems.

The My Mood Monitor Screen is a quick, validated, self-rated, multi-dimensional mental health symptom checklist that screens for and monitors changes in potential mood and anxiety symptoms.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Moodagent</span>

Moodagent is a white label music streaming service that specializes in interactive playlists and personalized music recommendations. The Moodagent brand is developed and owned by the Danish company Moodagent A/S, which has proprietary methods for recognizing emotional and musical characteristics of individual tracks.

Evolutionary psychiatry, also known as Darwinian psychiatry, is a theoretical approach to psychiatry that aims to explain psychiatric disorders in evolutionary terms. As a branch of the field of evolutionary medicine, it is distinct from the medical practice of psychiatry in its emphasis on providing scientific explanations rather than treatments for mental disorder. This often concerns questions of ultimate causation. For example, psychiatric genetics may discover genes associated with mental disorders, but evolutionary psychiatry asks why those genes persist in the population. Other core questions in evolutionary psychiatry are why heritable mental disorders are so common how to distinguish mental function and dysfunction, and whether certain forms of suffering conveyed an adaptive advantage. Disorders commonly considered are depression, anxiety, schizophrenia, autism, eating disorders, and others. Key explanatory concepts are of evolutionary mismatch and the fact that evolution is guided by reproductive success rather than health or wellbeing. Rather than providing an alternative account of the cause of mental disorder, evolutionary psychiatry seeks to integrate findings from traditional schools of psychology and psychiatry such as social psychology, behaviourism, biological psychiatry and psychoanalysis into a holistic account related to evolutionary biology. In this sense, it aims to meet the criteria of a Kuhnian paradigm shift.

Film/video-based therapy involves making movies with clients. It draws from several disciplines from cinema therapy, expressive therapy, narrative therapy, art therapy, digital storytelling, and phototherapy which requires a collaboration to integrate the many dynamic aspects of art and medicine. Joshua Lee Cohen Ph.D., author and co-editor of Video and Filmmaking as Psychotherapy: Research and Practice, helped to establish a collaborative effort in forming film/video-based therapy. This form of therapy is about making films with clients, as opposed to cinema therapy, which involves watching films. Cohen has utilized watching films and mindfulness in his work. Cohen has been cited in Tuval-Mashiach and Patton's clinical trial and participated in peer reviewed research on the use of video narrative in cancer research. It is not trademarked for advertising or financial purposes but intended to protect the sanctity of the license for mental health professionals and the use of the word "therapy" when used in conjunction with film/video in the United States.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mental health in education</span>

Mental health in education is the impact that mental health has on educational performance. Mental health often viewed as an adult issue, but in fact, almost half of adolescents in the United States are affected by mental disorders, and about 20% of these are categorized as “severe.” Mental health issues can pose a huge problem for students in terms of academic and social success in school. Education systems around the world treat this topic differently, both directly through official policies and indirectly through cultural views on mental health and well-being. These curriculums are in place to effectively identify mental health disorders and treat it using therapy, medication, or other tools of alleviation.

The 9-question Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-9) is a diagnostic tool introduced in 2001 to screen adult patients in a primary care setting for the presence and severity of depression. It rates depression based on the self-administered Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ). The PHQ is part of Pfizer's larger suite of trademarked products, called the Primary Care Evaluation of Mental Disorders (PRIME-MD). The PHQ-9 takes less than 3 minutes to complete and simply scores each of the 9 DSM-IV criteria for depression based on the mood module from the original PRIME-MD. Primary care providers frequently use the PHQ-9 to screen for depression in patients.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pain psychology</span>

Pain psychology is the study of psychological and behavioral processes in chronic pain. Pain psychology involves the implementation of treatments for chronic pain. Pain psychology can also be regarded as a branch of medical psychology, as many conditions associated with chronic pain have significant medical outcomes. Untreated pain or ineffective treatment of pain can result in symptoms of anxiety, depression, and suicidal thoughts, thus it is vital that appropriate pain management occur in a timely fashion following symptom onset.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Secular Therapy Project</span>

The Secular Therapy Project, sometimes abbreviated to STP, is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization founded in 2012 by Dr. Darrel Ray as part of its parent project, Recovering from Religion.

Alok Kanojia, also known as Dr. K., is an American psychiatrist and co-founder of the mental health coaching company, Healthy Gamer. He streams interviews on Twitch, where he and participants discuss mental health topics.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tracy Dennis-Tiwary</span> American Female Clinical Psychologist

Tracy Dennis-Tiwary is an American clinical psychologist, author, health technology entrepreneur, and professor of psychology and neuroscience at Hunter College and the Graduate Center of The City University of New York. Her research explores emotion regulation and its role in mental health and illness, with a particular focus on anxiety and anxiety-related attention biases, as well as child emotional development. She is known for her nuanced view of the impact of digital technology and social media on psychological well-being in youth and adults, including adjustment, relationship quality, anxiety, and emotion regulation.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Shelli Avenevoli</span>

Shelli Avenevoli is an American epidemiologist working as deputy director of the National Institute of Mental Health. She is a co-investigator on the National Comorbidity Study.

Michael Kinsey is an American clinical psychologist, psychotherapist and author. He is known for his work with parent-child attachment, personality psychology, and abusive power and control in interpersonal relationships. He is also the founder and publisher of the psychology blog Mindsplain.

References

  1. Karimova, Hokuma (5 March 2018). "Mood Charts: Track Your Mood With The Bullet Journal Mood Tracker & Other Charts". Positive Psychology Program. Retrieved 5 September 2018.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  2. "List of mood tracking apps". Mood-Tracker.net. Retrieved 3 May 2023.
  3. McMillan, Graeme (22 February 2013). "Screw moodrings! Keep track of your emotions with a mood-phone". Digital Trends . Retrieved 27 September 2013.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  4. Hume, Tim (26 February 2013). "Are you happy or sad? New smartphone app maps your mental state". CNN . Retrieved 27 September 2013.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  5. Gunter, Joel (8 May 2013). "'App therapist' mines data to track your mood". The Daily Telegraph . Retrieved 27 September 2013.
  6. "Achieve your New Year resolutions with the help of these apps". Rappler. 2 January 2019. Retrieved 17 November 2021.
  7. Stein, Loren (1 January 2020). "Depression Recovery: Keeping a Mood Journal". HealthDay. Retrieved 2 August 2020.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)