Abstract
This narrative review describes recent developments in the use of technology for utilizing the self-monitoring of mood, provides some relevant background, and suggests some promising directions. Subjective experience of mood is one of the valuable sources of information about the state of an integrated mind/brain system. During the past century, psychiatry and psychology moved away from subjectivity, emphasizing external observation, precise measurement, and laboratory techniques. This shift, however, provided only a limited improvement in the understanding of mood disorders, and it appears that self-monitoring of mood has the potential to enrich our knowledge, particularly when combined with the advances in technology. Modern technology, with its ability to transfer information from the individual directly to the researcher via electronic applications, enables us now to study mood regulation more thoroughly. Frequent subjective ratings can be helpful in identifying individualized treatment with effective mood stabilizers and recognizing subtypes of mood disorders. The variability of subjective ratings may also help us estimate the increased risk of recurrence and guide a tailored treatment.
Highlights
Subjective experience of mood is one of the valuable sources of information about the state of the mind/brain function
The research interest in mood disorders expanded by recognizing the importance of the subjective experience and the individual’s moods, to enrich the information obtained from objective measurements
To start with, selfmonitoring of mood can be helpful in clinical practice when evaluating whether a given treatment is useful. Daily ratings and their appropriate analysis, in combination with objective data, will allow, for example, to differentiate among offsprings of bipolar parents those who will stay well and those who have a high risk of developing a mood disorder; to select those patients who will be likely stabilized on lithium versus those who require neuroleptics or lamotrigine; and to identify time periods when a patient is at a high risk of recurrence (Ortiz et al 2016)
Summary
Subjective experience of mood is one of the valuable sources of information about the state of the mind/brain function. The research interest in mood disorders expanded by recognizing the importance of the subjective experience and the individual’s moods, to enrich the information obtained from objective measurements.
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