Mood diaries What is a mood diary? The idea of a mood diary is very similar to an ordinary diary where you write about your experiences, thoughts and behaviors each day. However a mood diary is more specific as you write about your mood changes, how the scenarios around you affect your mood and how you cope with these mood changes. Who is it suitable for? Anyone who feels that their mood has a great impact on their daily well-being. It has been seen to be useful for people who have mood disorders such as depression or bipolar. How is it useful? · A mood diary is a self-help technique where you can increase the understanding of your disorder and yourself which can provide a sense of control within your recovery. · It can allow you to reflect on what causes/triggers your biggest negative mood changes and also what makes you feel better. Consequently this could allow you to build and plan coping mechanisms and techniques that are most suitable for you in order to reduce negative moods. For example, does your mood diary show that stressful situations have a big impact on your depressive symptoms? If so perhaps you need to practice calming strategies and take time out when stressful situations occur. · Mood diaries can be useful if you would like to show your doctor or another health professional an insight into how your mood has been over a length of time. This can be especially useful if you find it hard to convey your thoughts and feelings. · Also it can allow you to reflect on how far you have come. Therefore a mood diary can be a rewarding task as you can see how you have improved over a certain amount of time. If you wish to start a mood diary there are templates available on the internet or you can set it out how you want. For example you may want to use scales to illustrate how much a certain emotion is felt in a certain situation or how you are mainly feeling that day. You may also want to draw or use pictures to convey your meaning and describe emotional sensations.Or you may wish to write down all of your thoughts and feelings.
Posted on: Mon, 04 Aug 2014 19:45:00 +0000