Daily Mood Log

[David Baxter PhD]

DAILY MOOD LOG*

See attached Word document or Adobe Acrobat PDF version below.


* ? David Burns (1989) The Feeling Good Handbook

 

[Into The Light]

Re: Feelings and the Thoughts That Control Them

to expand a bit on this to help people get the idea:

the emotions can be categorized in some basic categories:
angry, anxious, embarrassed, guilty, hopeless, lonely, sad and stressed (page 43, ten days to self-esteem by david d. burns)

also from page 43:
angry includes: mad, resentful, upset, p.o.'d, irritated, furious, ticked off, incensed, enraged
anxious includes: worried, panicky, nervous, afraid, fearful, concerned, scared, frightened, uneasy
embarrassed includes: foolish, self-conscious, flustered
guilty includes: ashamed, at fault, bad
hopeless includes: discouraged, pessimistic, desperate
lonely includes: abandoned, alone, rejected
sad includes: bummed out, depressed, down, disappointed, unhappy, hurt
stressed includes: overwhelmed, pressured, burned out, overworked, tense, uptight

cognitive distortions: this gets a bit tricky. to figure those out, see http://www.spiritsite.com/writing/davbur/part5.shtml. see which one each of your automatic thoughts falls under.

rational response: this is something you come up with that negates the automatic negative thought. it has to be true, realistic, and something you believe 100%. if it meets those criteria you will actually feel better. it is possible you still believe the negative thought some, but it will not be as strongly.

 

[momof5]

Re: Feelings and the Thoughts That Control Them

This is interesting, for those that it works for. I found that it did not work for me.

About a year after my injuries I found something online in regards to keeping a diary of thoughts etc.. In my case, I found that it made me think too much about things.

I'm not indicating that it will do this for others because evidentally it works. Just in my case, I found that I was more down, thought about the pain levels too much, about things I could not do instead of what I could do, if that makes sense?

 

[Into The Light]

Re: Feelings and the Thoughts That Control Them

yes i had read that this works for the majority of people but not everyone. that is a good thing to point out, momof5. did you find a different approach that worked better for you?

 

[Cat Dancer]

Re: Feelings and the Thoughts That Control Them

I think that makes a lot of sense. I've kind of struggled with that too, but I think I'm going to have to do this. At first it seems to be making things worse, but I'm hoping to get past that eventually.

For me, I am trying to combat negative and twisted thoughts, or at least trying to figure out which of my thoughts are negative and twisted, such as "I'm disgusting" or "I'm garbage" or "I've ruined everyone's lives." These thoughts lead to some extremely self-destructive behaviors which are incompatible with any kind of quality of life. I'm trying to identify them so that I can neutralize them and zap them out of my life. I want to do this SO badly.

I definitely do think dwelling on the thoughts is damaging too so there has to be some kind of balance for me. I get stuck in the thoughts a lot.

 

[momof5]

Re: Feelings and the Thoughts That Control Them

yes i had read that this works for the majority of people but not everyone. that is a good thing to point out, momof5. did you find a different approach that worked better for you?

What I do is just take a second at a time to get through things.

Learned how to pace myself, and that has increased since the heart thing, I tire easily, BUT if I let it get to me, then that isn't good either.

I find I can push myself, and not thinking about the stuff that I was writing down has actually created more of a drive to continue and to do what I would like to do. Like learning web design. I think if I had proceeded with the diary, I would have becoem to depressed to continue on with anything as it would be a reminder daily of what is going on in my life.

So, a second at a time, I do as much as I can and try to do more on good days. On bad days, I listen to my body and rest more and longer amounts of time.

I try to prepare myself for triggers since I enjoy the different crime shows, I find that it helps me to handle my past and present, I think it builds me up in a way.

I also have a trememdous amount of online friends in the web community that are so encouraging and patient with me (doc number one on that list )

Janet,
Just keep telling yourself that you are special and that what goes wrong in others lives is not your fault or doing. We all have the ability to make choices in life. Yes they can interfer with others lives (abusers can ruin a life very easily) But it is us the inner strength that we all have once we know that we do, that can get us past that.

You know you can contact me anytime you need uplifting. Just remember that God created you, you are special, and you have a lovely daughter. I'm sure you are a good mom, I know you are a good mom as she looks so happy!

 

[Daniel E.]

Re: Feelings and the Thoughts That Control Them

it is possible you still believe the negative thought some, but it will not be as strongly.

I think that's a very important point. For me, it's much easier to tame one's dark side than to remove it completely (which seems impossible, anyway).

 

[Halo]

Re: Feelings and the Thoughts That Control Them

I think that I agree with you Daniel that the negative dark side is never completely gone and there are always times that the negative self talk will creap back into our lives but it is knowing how to deal with it and push it away and out of our heads in a constructive good way that we have learned and that is how we know that we are better and have learned.

 

[healthbound]

Re: Feelings and the Thoughts That Control Them

I think that's a very important point. For me, it's much easier to tame one's dark side than to remove it completely (which seems impossible, anyway).

I agree with you too. Or maybe even just accept it. I find that once I accept ALL parts of me, I feel more complete or less fragmented. Also, it's only once I accept those darker parts that I can begin taming them.

As for cognitive thought replacements...
Doing daily logs, recognizing my thoughts and then replacing them made a huge positive impact on my life about a year after my sister died. I did a combination of intensive cognitive and behavioral therapy and it absolutely got me out of my post traumatic depression. David Burns book, "The Feeling Good Handbook" and the exercises in it were extremely helpful.

I just came back and edited this because I thought it was a bit counter-productive.

I wanted to say that from my experience, using thought replacements does work, but that I found it works best when I used it everyday.

Someone correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe there has been significant research indicating that cognitive therapy is the only therapy that's actually been proven to be effective??? I also believe there is other significant research showing that we can actually create NEW pathways for our little neurotransmitters to travel within our brains, which means that by practicing CT we can actually change some of our core perceptions about ourselves???

One of my biggest distortions is that I am helpless and hopeless when I'm in a depression. I believe that I cannot take care of myself and/or my son. This thought causes me great anxiety and more depression. However, it's not really true that I'm helpless and hopeless. It IS true that I am operating with more deficits than I am when I'm not in a depression, but I can still help myself and my son. I can still reach out for help. I can still see a therapist, I can still be a mother.

If I can retrain my brain to think this new way, I might not go as deeply into my depression as I would have otherwise.

I'm rambling...but you get the idea.

 

[David Baxter PhD]

Update: Daily Mood Log in Microsoft Word format uploaded as an attachment. See the first post in this thread.

Right click on the attachment filename to download to your local hard drive.

 

[Halo]

Thanks David for attaching the Mood Log in Word...it will be very useful for me personally.

 

[Misha]

Here are links to a couple of pdf files that I use as mood logs and are very helpful.

http://www.psychiatry24x7.com/conte...7.tld/psychiatry24x7.emea_com/blank_chart.pdf

http://www.psychiatry24x7.com/conte....tld/psychiatry24x7.emea_com/instructions.pdf

 

[Into The Light]

Misha those are great links. thanks for posting those.

 

[David Baxter PhD]

Yes, very nice additions, Misha.

 

[braveheart]

Is there a mood chart anywhere just for depression? Or PTSD? I've been searching and can only find them for Bipolar.

 

[Halo]

Are you looking for a mood log such as the one that David posted in the first post to this thread (which happens to be the one that I use) or are you looking for something that will track your moods, sleep, anxiety etc. over a period of time? If it is the latter then I have used a site called Moodtracker which can be found Here. I have found it extremely helpful.

 

[braveheart]

More of a tracker. I already journal in some detail. Thanks.

 

[Halo]

If you are looking for a tracker then I really suggest Moodtracker which is great. You can even have it set up to notify you to do your entry (either once or twice per day, your choice) by sending you an email or text message. Another great feature is that you can let your doctor or therapist have access to your tracker and they can view how your progress is going. I found that I didn't use the journal part much though but the other features were very helpful.

 

[ShyLady]

Here are links to a couple of pdf files that I use as mood logs and are very helpful.

http://www.psychiatry24x7.com/conte...7.tld/psychiatry24x7.emea_com/blank_chart.pdf

http://www.psychiatry24x7.com/conte....tld/psychiatry24x7.emea_com/instructions.pdf

I just wanted to say thank you for those two links, they are very good and will come in handy for me.

Also I just wantd to ask, is this thread for posting how you feel or your daily moods? Just wondering. Now I have gotta get to bed and will check back tomarrow. I like the idea of a mood log.

 

[David Baxter PhD]

Also I just wantd to ask, is this thread for posting how you feel or your daily moods? Just wondering.

No, but feel free to start one in an appropriate section of the forum if you like.