What is a bipolar mood chart?
It is a simple, patient driven tool that requires only a few minutes a day to complete. However, mood charts are extremely powerful and effective. Bipolar mood charts provide a visual image of how important pieces of information such as mood, medication, and life events all fit together. Usually the chart contains space for at least the following information: 1. Date: there should be space for recording data for each day. 2. Mood scale: the scale would typicaly include a baseline which indicates feeling normal (no depression or mania) and then a range of points above the baseline for elevated mood, and below the baseline for depressed mood. A scale of -3 to +3 is comon, but some charts have scales of -5 to +5 or even -10 to +10. I like to use -3 to +3. 3. How much sleep the person got 4. What medication was taken and the dosage. 5. Notes: this an be a record of life events considered relevant, such as stressors, therapy sessions, family gatherings, or notes about the workplace. Some pe
