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The purpose of self monitoring is to help you become
more aware of yourself, your moods, and what’s going on
in your life so that you can better manage your illness,
make informed decisions, prevent further illness episodes,
and ultimately have the quality of life you want. Basically,
self-monitoring involves identifying subtle changes in your
daily mood and being aware if you are experiencing
hypomanic, manic, and depressive symptoms. Self-
monitoring doesn’t take long to do and you’ll find that it
gets easier once you include it in your daily routine.
Mood Monitoring
The first step to self monitoring is monitoring your mood
for the day. Ask yourself, “How did I feel today? Was my
mood within the normal range, or was I feeling slightly
low or high? How low? How high?” Rate your mood,
between -5 (depressed) and +5 (manic). Try to rate your
mood at the same time everyday. Use the mood graph
below to monitor your moods. Try it for a week and see
if you can identify any pattern in your mood fluctuations.
You might also want to take note of the circumstances in
which you experienced particularly high or low moods.
Bring your completed mood graph to your doctor or
mental health professional and discuss your observations
with them.
Symptom Monitoring
Another way of monitoring yourself is to identify and be
aware of any signs and symptoms associated with a
depressive, manic, or mixed episode that you might be
experiencing. Use the worksheet below to record any
symptoms that might have interfered with most of your
day-to-day activities. If you experience a number of these
symptoms over a few days, you might want to consider
taking some action. Talk to your doctor or mental health
professional about what you can do to prevent a full-blown
mood episode.
monitoring
mood & symptom
Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri Sat Sun
Date:
Manic
+5 • • • • • • •
+4 • • • • • • •
+3 Time to Intervene • • • • • • •
+2 Monitor Closely • • • • • • •
+1 • • • • • • •
0 Normal • • • • • • •
-1 • • • • • • •
-2 Monitor Closely • • • • • • •
-3 Time to Intervene • • • • • • •
-4 • • • • • • •
-5 • • • • • • •
Depressed
Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri Sat Sun
Date:
Depressed mood
Loss of interest or pleasure
Increase or decrease in appetite
Unable to sleep or sleep too much
Physically agitated or slowed down
Fatigue or loss of energy
Feeling worthless or guilty
Unable to concentrate or make
decisions
Thoughts of death or suicide
Elevated or irritable mood
Increased self-esteem or self-
confidence
Decreased need for sleep
More talkative than usual
Racing thoughts
Easily distracted
Increase in goal-directed activity
Overly eager to engage in
pleasurable activities
Circumstances in which I experienced high or low moods:
Circumstances in which I experienced these symptoms:
This document is for informaon purposes
only. Please refer to the full disclaimer and
copyright statement available at hp://
www.cci.health.wa.gov.au regarding the infor‐
maon from this website before making use of
such informaon.
