Happy New Year

I created Mood Sentry for myself, to help me better manage my depression.  There's really no way for me to know if Mood Sentry will help others manage their moods.  I simply assume that because it helps me it may help others.  However, I really feel that no app will be sufficient in itself to cure depression.  It's the effort the individual puts into managing their condition that will make the difference.  If Mood Sentry doesn't help you then try something different.  It's not the app, but the belief followed by the effort that will make a difference in your life.  Try therapy, try other apps,  try books, but keep trying.  We at Mood Apps believe that mood disorders can be managed and potentially overcome through effort.  There's a lot of support available to help you (us) achieve a better life, but you (we) gotta work for it.  Happy New Year, and good luck!

If you'd like to contribute one of your experiences, reminders, any tool entry or just your thoughts to possibly help others make better use of Mood Sentry, please consider e-mailing the item (or your thoughts) to 4theblog@moodappsllc.com. I'll protect your privacy and keep the source anonymous.

If your therapist would like to contact me with questions or suggestions, have him/her contact me at info@moodappsllc.com.

Working on the Next Update

This one will mostly be structural.  I thought about adding a new tool with a working title of Who I Am, which I thought might be a good thing to include.  The idea was that one could identify different aspects of who they are and also evidence supporting that claim.  For me, it might help me identify areas for improvement (such as areas for which I have no evidence), and may even suggest future courses of action.  However, I think I need to get this next update out because I've done a lot from a code structure standpoint and I'd like to wrap this change up and move on.

I'm also considering a free version that would have advertising in it.  I'm waffling on that because I think trying to sell to people who are trying to manage their depression/anxiety could be kind of sleazy.  I need to see what type of ads would show up on the screen before I can make such a judgement call.  We'll see.

If you'd like to contribute one of your experiences, reminders, any tool entry or just your thoughts to possibly help others make better use of Mood Sentry, please consider e-mailing the item (or your thoughts) to 4theblog@moodappsllc.com. I'll protect your privacy and keep the source anonymous.

If your therapist would like to contact me with questions or suggestions, have him/her contact me at info@moodappsllc.com.

Back from my Trip

Returned from my trip tonight.  Well, I returned, my luggage is still in Seattle.  I think I handle stuff like this better than I used to.  It's been a while since my luggage was lost, so I really don't remember exactly how I reacted the last time. This time I can definitely say that I was relaxed and just a bit peeved that they didn't tell me sooner that my bags were in Seattle.  I waited until all the bags were off the airplane before speaking with the baggage folks, who had a message from the Seattle office stating that my luggage missed the plane.  "Should" they have told me this sooner, or "it would have been better" had they told me sooner. I like the second version better.  The app has helped me to better handle situations like this by recording the thoughts at the time and identifying mitigation techniques.  Reviewing my entries and experiences helps make the mitigation techniques more automatic.  Does it do the same for you?

If you'd like to contribute one of your experiences, reminders, any tool entry or just your thoughts to possibly help others make better use of Mood Sentry, please consider e-mailing the item (or your thoughts) to 4theblog@moodappsllc.com. I'll protect your privacy and keep the source anonymous.

If your therapist would like to contact me with questions or suggestions, have him/her contact me at info@moodappsllc.com.

Holiday Use

Today I made good use of Mood Sentry, reviewing My Experiences as well as a few entries in the Journaling and Thriving tool sets.  The main benefit has to do with something I don't think I've ever posted about before which is the canker sores I can get after periods of stress.  These things can be quite uncomfortable and thus can start my day off in a negative mood.  It's kind of like emotional reasoning in that the discomfort drives me to look at other things in my life through a lens of negativity. Fortunately, I'm getting better at recognizing this.  What types of distortinons pop up?  Overgeneralizations, such as these things will never go away, Magnifications regarding the importance of these things, and a should statement or two such as I should really handle my stress better.  I can counter these thoughts fairly easily.  The key for me is to take the time to examine my thoughts and see what's on my mind.  Mood Sentry helps in this respect with its reminders.  Of course, it's ultimately up to me to actually use the app.  I'm glad I did today.

I'll be Busy the Next Few Days

I'll be busy the next few days, so my posts may be infrequent.  If you're looking for help using Mood Sentry, try the hints, check out past entries on this blog, or drop me an e-mail at support@moodappsllc.com.  I'll try to post how I'm using the app over the holidays, which will be pretty much how I use the app on regular days.  I check it in the morning and periodically throughout the day.  It helps me get through all the fuss and commotion during this time of year.

Happy Holidays to you all.

If you'd like to contribute one of your experiences, reminders, any tool entry or just your thoughts to possibly help others make better use of Mood Sentry, please consider e-mailing the item (or your thoughts) to 4theblog@moodappsllc.com. I'll protect your privacy and keep the source anonymous.

If your therapist would like to contact me with questions or suggestions, have him/her contact me at info@moodappsllc.com.

Last Work Day of the Year Stress

At work today I had plans to get several things done, most of which I accomplished.  However, I found myself looking at the items I did not get to and thinking I didn't do enough.  Two things I've been telling myself that help: that the things I did complete were the important ones to complete, and I didn't have a realistic plan to begin with.  Looking back on my day, there was very little free time.  I was pretty focused on what I needed to accomplish because this was the last day of the year for us.  We'll be shut down until the 2nd.  So if I got the important stuff done, and didn't have time for anything else, wasn't what I did about the best I could have done?  It's now seeming to me that I did about the best I could do.  Regarding the items I did not get to, they actually can wait until after the holiday break.  I'm still a little stressed, but I'm feeling a bit better too.  I'll keep working on these thoughts.

If you'd like to contribute one of your experiences, reminders, any tool entry or just your thoughts to possibly help others make better use of Mood Sentry, please consider e-mailing the item (or your thoughts) to 4theblog@moodappsllc.com. I'll protect your privacy and keep the source anonymous.

If your therapist would like to contact me with questions or suggestions, have him/her contact me at info@moodappsllc.com.

Started an Event Record

I started and event record for the events of last week.  I had multiple things due and was very stressed all week.  I decided to start an Event Record entry.  I thought it would be fairly straight forward, but it's not.  It might not fit in this format, so I may have to switch tools.  Perhaps it would develop better as an Observation.  Those entries are usually the easiest for me.  I've done this before, meaning starting off with one tool to capture a thought pattern only to switch to another tool that better captured what really happened.  It's something to keep in mind if you find yourself struggling to capture your thoughts in Mood Sentry.  If one tool isn't quite right, try another.

If you'd like to contribute one of your experiences, reminders, any tool entry or just your thoughts to possibly help others make better use of Mood Sentry, please consider e-mailing the item (or your thoughts) to 4theblog@moodappsllc.com. I'll protect your privacy and keep the source anonymous.

If your therapist would like to contact me with questions or suggestions, have him/her contact me at info@moodappsllc.com.