What Is a Mood Tracker?

by | CBT, Coping, Depression, Mental Health

Mood tracker. Depression counseling.

A mood tracker is a visual tool you can use to help you increase self-awareness by gathering data on your day to day emotional experiences and factors that may affect your mood.

Are you someone who likes to see more concrete evidence that you are making progress? Is it difficult sometimes to tell if therapy is working for you? Do you tend to be forgetful and then feel unsure how to describe how your week went to your therapist?

Here are examples of mood trackers you could use or you could create your own:

Emotions, rate on scale of 0-10 Sadness 0-10 Anger Anxiety Shame Guilt Fear Joy
Monday              
Tuesday              
Wednesday              
Thursday              
Friday              
Saturday              
Sunday              

 

Behavior (Y or N)

 Applying for work House chores Mindfulness practice Positive activities Substance use Procrastination Isolating behavior
Monday              
Tuesday              
Wednesday              
Thursday              
Friday              
Saturday              
Sunday              

 

Negative thoughts

 Something bad might happen. Something is wrong with me I can’t do anything about this. Other people are suffering to a much larger extent. I’ll end up in the hospital. Negative predictions Self-criticism or negative comparisons with how things used to be.
Monday              
Tuesday              
Wednesday              
Thursday              
Friday              
Saturday              
Sunday              

 

Behavior

 # of meals I have eaten # hours of sleep Self-harm beahvior (Y or N) Suicidal thoughts (Y or N) Taking medications (Y or N) Attended support group (Y or N) Practiced skills from therapy (Y or N)
Monday              
Tuesday              
Wednesday              
Thursday              
Friday              
Saturday              
Sunday              

 

Positive things

 Accomplishments (completing assignments, making a new friend, using a new skill, setting a boundary) Affirmations (I am grateful for…, I am worthy, I am loved, I am learning, I can overcome this) Signs of progress (decreased symptoms, more energy, getting positive feedback from others, reacting differently than before, more positive thoughts, etc.)
Monday      
Tuesday      
Wednesday      
Thursday      
Friday      
Saturday      
Sunday      

 

Other Things

 Triggering situations (stressors, events that reminded you of past trauma, loss, abrupt change) Interpretations or assumptions about the situations Reactions (crying, walking away, shut down, blew up, ruminating for hours, blamed self, used maladaptive coping)
Monday      
Tuesday      
Wednesday      
Thursday      
Friday      
Saturday      
Sunday      

 

Choose emotions you want to track and put them in the first row. Each day, rate your emotions in terms of intensity with 0 being having no emotion and 10 being having the most intense emotion.

-You can track behaviors and thoughts that may be impacting your mood.

– You can also track your accomplishments each day, write down your affirmations, and describe signs of progress. You can connect your behaviors, thoughts, and emotions and see how they impact each other.

-You can describe triggers that occurred, identify how you interpreted the situation or what assumptions you made, then go into details about your reactions.

You can then bring the mood trackers into your session to have more details to share and more information to help find the right therapy approach.

If you are looking for counseling support with your mood or worry that you might have depression, a therapist at Star Meadow Counseling is available to help! Reach out today to schedule an appointment!