Mood Tracking in Bipolar Disorder: What’s the Big Deal? by Robyn Tamanaha, LMFT
What is it?
Mood tracking is a tool used to identify the emotions an individual experienced, how intense the emotion was felt, and other factors that occurred that day, such as hours of sleep, appetite changes, stressors, and contact with other people. Mood trackers can range from simple to detailed. Mood trackers can be tailored to each individual to include symptoms that are being targeted in treatment and the major areas of the individual’s life that are currently being impacted.
What’s the purpose?
It can be easy to forget what emotion you felt, whether your sleep pattern has changed, or the small stressors that happened each day in any given week. When it comes to mood, all of these factors can come together to influence mood episodes. For certain diagnoses, such as bipolar disorder, the number of symptoms and how many consecutive days they’re occurring, along with how much they impacted the individual’s daily life, is key to narrowing down the type of bipolar disorder the individual is experiencing. One type of treatment for bipolar disorder is Interpersonal and Social Rhythm Therapy (IPSRT), which includes a very simple and concise tracker, called the Social Rhythm Metric, as part of the treatment process (Frank, 2007). Mood tracking alone doesn’t lead to recovery because it is one piece of the puzzle; however, it does allow for the individual and mental health professional to see the individual’s mood and lifestyle improvement as the diagnosis is being treated in therapy.
Things to consider:
There are many mood tracking apps for smartphone devices that make mood tracking easy, some of which are customizable for your experience with mood.
Mood tracking is not required everyday for the rest of your life. Mood tracking may allow you to increase your self-awareness of the symptoms you’re experiencing, so that in the future a mindful check-in might be enough.
You’re not alone. Because mood tracking is part of treatment, a mental health professional will be able to help you connect the dots between your emotions and what it’s impacting, along with how it can be improved.
Reference: E., Frank (2007) Treating bipolar disorder: A Clinician’s Guide to Interpersonal and Social Rhythm Therapy. Guilford.
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Disclaimer: This information is being provided to you for educational and informational purposes only. The topics being discussed are meant as a self-help tool for you own use. It is not psychotherapy or counseling. This information is to be used based on your own judgment. If you need to speak with a professional, you should find one local to you and contact them directly.
Disclaimer: This information is being provided to you for educational and informational purposes only. The topics being discussed are meant as a self-help tool for you own use. It is not psychotherapy or counseling. This information is to be used based on your own judgment. If you need to speak with a professional, you should find one local to you and contact them directly.