A mood map is a table that provides information about your mood, sleep hours, and medications. Many use it to observe fluctuations in their mood and also to notice how this can affect other behaviors, such as sleep, energy status and appetite. Creating a chart is the best way to detect mood swings and will also give you a tool you can use with your doctor to combat problems like bipolar disorder. Learn to monitor your mood and note those signals that are important for your psychophysical balance.
Steps
Part 1 of 2: Making your own Mood Map
Step 1. Decide on the format of the table
There are several ways to create your own table. The mode you choose depends on your preferences. You can create a mood chart using Microsoft Word or Excel tables and print several copies. You can use sheets of paper, a pencil, and rulers to draw your graph. You could also just write the details down daily on a diary or journal page.
- If you are not creative or do not have the time to create a chart on a sheet of paper, you can track your mood directly online, on websites such as "Mood Panda" or "MedHelp Mood Tracker". Or keep a note on a paper template that you can download.
- You also have the option to connect with iTunes and the Google Play Store and search for "mood chart" or "mood tracker", applications to download to your phone.
Step 2. Choose what to monitor
The level of complexity of data processing is entirely up to you. Some only keep track of sleep, moods, anxiety or medications, while others update actual records on sleep, mood, energy, appetite, behaviors, medications, and more. Determine which elements are most relevant or useful to your needs and include them in the chart.
To make our graph we will focus on mood, anxiety, sleep and medications and keep track of them in a notebook
Step 3. Buy a diary
If you want to track your daily sleep and mood and also have the ability to write additional notes about the day, a diary or agenda can be even more useful. Buy an eye-catching one that has at least 10 or 15 leading lines per page. Each sheet of your diary will represent a day in your life.
Step 4. Create a rating scale with which to estimate each item
Since you will be tracking mood, anxiety, sleep, and medications, you will only evaluate mood and anxiety trends. Sleep will be documented with the hours actually slept; with regard to drugs, the pills taken, at what time and with what doses, will be noted. You can include a legend on the first page of the diary so that the ratings are always accessible. An example of a rating scale could be the following:
- 1 - extremely depressed
- 2 - very depressed
- 3 - rather depressed
- 4 - mildly depressed
- 5 - stable
- 6 - slightly obsessive
- 7 - rather obsessive
- 8 - very obsessive
- 9 - extremely obsessive
- If you want to monitor other factors (anxiety, for example) you can apply a similar protocol. Create a rating scale between 1 and 9 (or even other scale numbers) that varies from "extremely low" to "extremely high" (in this case in relation to anxiety).
Step 5. Decide how many times per day to take measurements
If you are active for about 18 hours a day, it may be useful to monitor three times a day, which is every six hours. Create a special space for each time slot and, just below that space, leave three or four lines open. Then leave a few blank lines at the bottom of each page to be able to write additional notes about your mood, vital state, stressors and / or behaviors related to the day.
Part 2 of 2: How to use the Mood Map
Step 1. Track your mood
At first, you may need to synchronize the mapping with drug schedules to help you remember. In the long run, monitoring will become a natural and productive habit of your day. Look at the example below:
- October 18:
- Sleep: 7 hours
- 8:00
- mood: 3
- drugs: 200 mg Tegretol; 100 mg Wellbutrin
- 2:00 in the afternoon:
- mood: 4
- Drugs: None
- 20:00
- mood: 4
- drugs: 200 mg Tegretol; 100 mg Wellbutrin
- Notes: Worked. Ate 3 meals. Walked 3 Km. Day progressively improved. Regular concentration and attention. I had negative thoughts: "I made a lot of mistakes on that presentation; I'm good for nothing." "My girlfriend didn't call; nobody cares about me." I managed to get courage and overcome them. Today no alcohol and no extra drugs.
Step 2. Make monitoring regular
The only way for you and your doctor to get useful information from mood mapping is to update it regularly on a daily basis. Skipping even a single day can make you forget or minimize a new change in mood, anxiety, or sleep patterns. Even good habits like mood tracking can be difficult to follow at first. To make sure you proceed smoothly and keep motivation high, follow the 3 Rs rule of changing habits:
- R.icorda. Fix this new habit, reminding yourself when it's time to do a certain thing. It could be simpler by setting a fixed rule: map your mood before each meal.
- R.outine. Always follow the same monitoring procedure every day, so that you can physically and mentally get used to integrating this new habit into your day.
- R.the reward. Also, to learn more and more important information about yourself through mood tracking, you could devise some regular forms of rewards to build excitement and keep motivation high. For example, you might decide to treat yourself to a special weekend if you can update your table three times a day for a week.
Step 3. Review your progress
Using this table is especially useful when switching to a new drug; it allows you to notice certain moods that recur cyclically or to check if the new drug is working or not and to show your doctor your progress. Check your journal each week and at the end of each month for certain changes in your mood or repetitive stressors that affect your mood and the way you behave.
Advice
- Using a mood chart is helpful for your doctor, as it helps him observe your progress and assess whether a specific treatment is working.
- You can also use a mood chart to identify early symptoms and help your doctor diagnose possible bipolar disorder.
