Mood tracking apps may have mental health benefits you can’t ignore

“Mood trackers are an effective way of gauging how one feels at different times of the day, while pursuing different tasks, and helps them to tie it to their reactions,” explains Mumbai-based counselling psychologist Maithili Thanawala Kanabar. In our fast-paced lives, making the time to regularly take stock of your feelings and moods can seem like a herculean task, but many mental health professionals swear by it.

Mood tracking allows the individual to observe a pattern between their choices and actions in different situations. It helps to identify triggers and whether current responses to situations are helpful or harmful, says Kanabar. “Often understanding our triggers and patterns is enough to support solving the problem. It allows the individual to scan their body for symptoms and link it to the preceding thought or situation,” she says. Mood tracking can help clinicians in diagnosis of any mental health issue as it involves logging of duration and occurrence of the mood/behaviour. “In therapy, we often ask clients to journal their moods throughout the day over a period of time because it helps us understand their triggers and orient our therapy towards a healthy outcome,” says Kanabar. Scroll ahead for an edit of mood tracking apps you can download now.

4 great mood tracking apps to download now

Moody

This app protects your mood journal with a private passcode while allowing you to log your mood in a matter of seconds. It offers customisation, so you get to pick from over a 1,000 icons that don’t just log your mood, but any external factors that might have affected you—such as the weather or an activity you are currently pursuing (so you can record the feeling you get when you, for example, leave a super long meeting.) You can add personal notes and photos, and even filter your logs. Available on iOS

Moody Month

Is it really the time of the month that’s affecting your behaviour and mental health, or is it because mercury is simply in retrograde? Moody Month is an app that logs different phases of your menstrual cycle, physical stats, and the hormonal and environmental factors that might affect your mood. It even provides information about the moon phase, lets you write memos, mark cramp logs, and gauge your sex drive. For a holistic approach, it also gives expert advice on vitamin intake, workouts and wellness techniques. Available on iOS 

Daylio

Hate typing? This app helps you keep a log of your mood and activities through the day without having to type anything. All you need to do is choose from their wide range of icons. It might take you a second to match an icon to your specific emotion, but once you’ve got it, it’s a breeze to input. You can also set reminders so you don’t forget to log in your mood. Available on iOS and Android

Journey: Diary, Journal, Mood Tracker

Here’s an app that doesn’t just record your mood, but your dreams, food intake, fitness and secrets too. Worried that your on-the-move lifestyle won’t give you time to make all entries? You can sync your journal across different platforms, be it your phone or desktop computer. You can view your entries on a timeline (like on social media platforms), and also import your diary entries from other apps such as Evernote. Available on iOS and Android

Also read:

Can self-care apps really help your mental health?

Why opening up about mental health is the need of the hour

Why not making resolutions should be your first act of self-care in 2019