You know you blew it. You waited three months for the appointment and accomplished nothing. You didn’t do any mood, anxiety, symptom tracking – so you couldn’t help your cause.
It’s an Informed and well-planned course that leads to freedom from symptom hell.
Psychotherapy and meds can do wonderful things. But we’ll be excluded from the fun if we don’t pay heed to, and track, the manifestations of what ails us.
Acceptance can be a formidable opponent.
The power of symptoms
Depression, bipolar disorder, anxiety disorders, OCD – symptoms in our neck of the woods can be brutal.
If we’re depressed, it can be rock-bottom motivation, fatigue, feeling worthless and hopeless, and thoughts of self-harm.
Bipolar disorder? In addition to depressive symptoms, maybe it’s racing thoughts, no need for sleep, pressured speech, and flirting-with-disaster behavior.
Anxiety? Could be panic attacks, agoraphobia, irrational fears, avoidance, worry, and restlessness.
OCD? Perhaps a hypervigilant mind, washing, checking, arranging, counting, and intrusive thoughts.
Open the door to relief and healing
Who would want to experience any of those symptoms? But since we’re the lucky ones, let’s make them work for us.
Believe it or not, each and every symptom we experience can open the door to relief and healing. However, it stays closed and locked if we don’t observe, track, and chart them.
How else are we supposed to learn about ourselves and receive help?
Know the seas
It’s an Informed and well-planned course that leads to freedom from symptom hell. And we can’t chart our way to port if we don’t know the seas.
One may say, “Don’t know the seas? I sail them every day.” Of course, but it’s so easy to become distracted, overwhelmed, and lost. And when that happens, need to know information sinks to the bottom.
Mood, anxiety, symptom tracking
“The details of my mood, anxiety, and symptoms? Yeah, okay. Help, I need a system.”
If you’re a regular Chipur reader, you know how strongly I feel about self-observation and taking notes.
Enter mood, anxiety, symptom tracking.
It provides a system that’ll keep us, and our efforts, organized. Really, it’ll make life so much simpler. And you know how valuable that is.
But if it’s to stand a chance of coming through for us, we need a repetition and follow-up mindset. Going through the motions won’t cut it.
I’ll share some resources in a short.
Connecting the dots
All sorts of factors influence our emotional and mental health experience – meds, diet, exercise, meditation, stress, substance use, sleep, medical issues, and more.
They all need to be taken into account as we track our symptoms. That’s how we connect the dots.
Tracking resources
Certainly you can come up with your own tracking and recording methods, but maybe you’d like some assistance.
I did a bit of digging and found some worksheets and apps you’ll likely find helpful. For the record, I don’t make a dime from clicks and purchases…
Worksheets
Mental Health Worksheets: Symptom tracking
28 Mental Health Games, Activities & Worksheets
Apps
Daylio: Features a mood diary and happiness tracker. Can export PDF or CSV documents to share, print, and analyze.
eMoods: Handles it all, and said to be a particularly good choice for bipolar disorder and PTSD. Enhances doc visits with detailed data exports.
MoodKit: Draws upon principles and techniques of cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT). Can be used to amp up professional treatment.
Worry Watch: Reportedly a good choice for anxiety disorders. Features a guided anxiety journal, coping techniques, mood journal tracker, and positive affirmations.
Bearable: From a user: “With Bipolar, ADHD, anxiety, and depression, this app has made it extremely easy to know, for myself, what to tell my mental health providers regarding my care – what will help me going forward.” Also works well for physical ailments.
Moodfit: Based on the relationship between thoughts, feelings, and behaviors. They say, “Help your therapist help you.”
Plenty more worksheets and apps where these came from. However, the ones I’ve shared receive a lot of attention and accolades.
And with the apps, doesn’t the ease of getting one’s provider involved make good sense? I mean, the more they know, the better they can help.
Work hard for the cause
No more blown appointments, okay? If we want to learn about ourselves and secure relief, we have to work hard for the cause – us.
Using mood, anxiety, symptom tracking is irreplaceable.
Would you like to read more Chipur mood and anxiety info and inspiration articles? Just peruse the titles.
