A mood diary is the least effort of all the journaling I do and the one that has told me the most about myself. One line a day. A number, a few words, what helped.
Two weeks of one-liners will tell you more about “how you have been lately” than trying to remember a month.
What is a mood diary?
A mood diary is a daily record of how you felt, as a simple score, with a note of what was going on and what helped or did not. The NHS recommends keeping one if you are being seen for low mood or anxiety, because a fortnight of real entries is far more useful than trying to remember, and remembering, when your mood is low, tends to remember only the low days.
day onetwo weeks laterWhy keep a mood diary?
Three reasons, from most to least obvious.
- It shows you the pattern. Bad Mondays. The week before a period. Every day you skip lunch. The three-day dip after a big social thing. You cannot see these from inside one day.
- It shows you the good days too. Low mood edits your memory. The diary does not. A row of sixes with two threes in it is a different story from the one your head tells.
- It gives you something to bring. To a GP, a therapist, a partner. “Here is the last month” is a conversation that can go somewhere.
What is the simplest mood diary layout?
This one. Copy it onto any page, or use the ruled pages in the journal.
| Day | Mood (0 to 10) | Three words | What helped, what did not |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mon | 4 | Slept badly, rushed | Skipped lunch, worse |
| Tue | 6 | Quiet, walk at lunch | Walk helped |
| Wed | 5 | Ordinary | |
| Thu | 3 | Argument, tired | Bath helped a bit |
Leave days blank if you miss them. A gap is information too.
What should I look for after two weeks?
Read it back on a steady day, not a low one. Ask three questions: what were the worst days like the day before? What do the best days have in common? Is there anything in the “helped” column more than once? That last one is your list of things to do more of, written by you, from evidence.
Is a mood tracker app better than paper?
Apps are quicker and some people stick to them better. Paper does not buzz at you and you can see a fortnight at a glance without scrolling. Use whichever you will keep. The point is the two weeks of real entries, not the tool.
If the numbers are mostly twos and threes and have been for a while, or if any day has thoughts of not wanting to be here, please show the diary to someone this week: your GP, or one of the helplines at the bottom of this page. That is exactly what it is for.
This is educational self-help from lived experience, not therapy or medical advice.