After a discussion with a friend I’ve decided to try and track my moods in the following manner:

I’ll track my moods using the two dimensions I experience them with: mania and depression. So at any point in time I experience both mania and depression. I’ll rate each on a 0 to 10 scale with 0 being the minimum and 10 being the maximum. For example, right now I’m experiencing a mania of 8 and a depression of 6, meaning I’m simultaneously very manic and my depression is stronger than normal.

One additional thing to do is add the numbers together and divide by 2, providing a measure of the intensity of the moods I’m feeling a the moment. In the example just given, this would be 7, meaning I’m experiencing an intensity of mood at 7 on a scale of 0 to 10 where 0 is no intensity and 10 the most intense possible.

The other piece of the plan is to make a one line journal entry each time I put down a set of numbers. This way when the numbers are put on a graph I can get more detail of what was going on when interesting changes appear in the graph. For example if the graph shows a big drop or rise I can see what I was thinking at the time the drop or rise begins.

It will be interesting to watch the graphs and read the journal entries over time. I hope this will provide the opportunity to get some insight in the movement of my moods.