Predicting your mood episodes

vertigo's thread about "early warning system" inspired me to post this thread...

1. Are you good at identifying your triggers?
2. Are you able to sense when you're about to have an episode?
3. Do you regularly do mood charting or mood journaling?

I'm not good at any of these things. For starters, I totally suck at mood charting. I usually start up mood charting when I'm in a bad mood, then forget all about it when I start feeling better. I tend to think, "Well, I'm feeling good, so I don't need to do this anymore!" (Yeah, bad attitude...)

I literally can't identify my symptoms right before an episode... but I have gotten better at identifying triggers, I think.

#1: Kind of
#2: No
#3: Kind of

I can kind of identify triggers, at least I'm getting better at it. But I'm bad at sensing an episode. And I do my charting by a DBT diary card, which is a little.different from a BP mood chart, but still kind of does the job...

I haven't identified any trigger for depression so far. The only thing is winter. I get depressed in winter pretty regularly.. I hate the cold and dark. But I get depressed in all seasons so it's hard to say. It's really like I just wake up and I'm depressed. There's no logic behind it.

I'm not good at sensing an episode because like I said it just happens. There's no slow build up. I'll be fine one day and down the next. Or up the next. But I'm good at identifying it and taking steps to manage it when it happens.

I use imoodjournal on my phone. It reminds me every night at 8pm to chart my mood. I just hit a number and move on. no notes or anything, though it has that option. I'm not as good at it when I'm stable but I still try to log a couple of times a week so I can keep track.

1. No, I've only identified sleep deprivation as far as I can recall just now.
2. No. The slide into an episode, up or down, is so gradual I don't notice until I'm consumed.
3. Yes. Someone here introduced me to MoodTracker.com and I use it every day. It has a bit of a crutch: you can set reminders to be emailed and/or texted to you. (So I did.) There's also a space for journaling to make it easier to identify triggers. I'm very grateful to whoever recommended it. (WildflowerChild, is that you?)

I can identify my triggers sometimes. Not all the time, though.

I can tell sometimes when I'm in an episode. I'm usually better with hypomania than I am with depression. The latter kind of sneaks in on me.

I don't do mood charting. I used to but I picked an app that was too complicated. (It was made for veterans who also had PTSD and TBI.) I probably should.

I do the mood charting thing but the other 2 things I'm not very good at, at least not yet. Hopefully someday I'll be able to better understand what my triggers are so I can try to avoid them when possible.

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Therapy has helped me enourmously to spot triggers, to find alternative ways to react to them, alternative thoughts to think. So yes, no I can spot an episode comming and there are times when I can prevent it actively seeking other means of ways to respond to situations. I'm really bad at tracking. My only tracking system is here on psycentral where I take mania and depression tests and save results. So in long term I see that if I've been in real highs or lows it shows up in tests. If there's silence, I've been doing good and haven't come here.

Well... afterwards I can identify what the triggers were. Not really during though.

And sometimes there are no triggers.

Are you good at identifying your triggers? I can list a lot of them. But I need help to identify most of them when they are actually impacting me.


Are you able to sense when you're about to have an episode? Not usually. Fortunately my therapist, pdoc and my mom (who I live next door to and who sees me daily) is getting better at seeing them and pointing it out. Sometimes I get mad if I'm told I'm having symptoms that I don't want to acknowledge though, especially by my mom. so she has releases to talk to my pdoc or therapist in an emergency because in the winter I was dangerously ill and unaware of it and she didn't know that she could call them and tell them even if they couldn't answer. Now they can answer at their discretion and get me help faster.

Do you regularly do mood charting or mood journaling?
I have imoodjournal but it doesn't really work for me because I'm typically mixed and it's hard to know how to mark it accurately in a way that makes sense to me.

1. I am okay at identifying some triggers. Some triggers are there no matter what kind of mood/episode I'm having. Other triggers are exclusive to whether I'm in a manic/mixed/or depressive state. I would like to get better at this though.

2. I used to not be able to sense an episode, but I'm improving in this area. I try to pick up on the "warning signs." This isn't always enough to prevent the episodes, but I would probably be a lot worse if I lacked awareness. Usually, I can pick up on enough signs to know it's time to call the pdoc and get a med adjustment. So I am thankful for any insight I have.

3. I use Moodtracker.com to both track my mood and journal. It is helpful to see my patterns, but it's also a good release to write down my thoughts. It makes me feel like I'm doing something to take care of myself.

Are you good at identifying your triggers? Nope
Are you able to sense when you're about to have an episode? Nope I get mad at people irl point it out. My PC friends can but that's it.
Do you regularly do mood charting or mood journaling? I use to but I no longer put that much time into figuring me out.

1. Not really
2. I'm getting better at it!
3. I try but I suck at it

Going to therapy helped me SO much with #2. My T taught me how to think critically about "warning signs" and whatnot when I feel myself spiraling down into depression or getting keyed up in a hypo episode. She also got me started on mood journaling -- just writing down how I feel at the end of each day -- but I really am terrible at it. I don't know how to talk about how I feel, not even with myself. I don't know if I have emotions but I can't process them, or if I'm an emotionless void, or what. But I can't look back at my day and say things like, "Oh I was sad today" or "xyz made me happy today." I dunno why... but hey that's why I am still in therapy!