Mood Scores: Treating Happiness as a Metric

We tend to treat our mental state as a weather event—something that just happens to us, unpredictable and unmanageable. This passive approach is dangerous, especially for those managing recurrent depression or bipolar disorder. The Mood Scores template shifts the paradigm from "experiencing" your mood to "auditing" it. It posits that stability isn't a destination you hope to reach, but a data set you build day by day.

Quantifying the Intangible

The problem with a simple "How are you feeling?" journal is that "bad" is not a specific enough data point. This template breaks down the monolithic concept of "mood" into four distinct, trackable vectors: Mood score, Anxiety, Clarity of thought, and Energy / drive.

This granularity is critical. You might feel "terrible," but the data shows your Mood is low (2) while your Energy is dangerously high (5). That specific combination—low mood, high energy—is a classic red flag for mixed states in bipolar disorder, a nuance that a simple diary entry would miss completely. By separating Clarity of thought from Anxiety, you can distinguish between a panic attack and a depressive fog, two states that require very different interventions.

The Chaos Vector

One of the most powerful features of this system is the Chaotic boolean flag. Often, a crisis isn't defined by a single low score but by the volatility of the system itself. Checking this box allows you to filter your history for periods of instability, helping you identify what environmental factors—Triggers—preceded the storm.

Did a work deadline correlate with a spike in Anxiety? did a missed dose of medication lead to "Racing thoughts" in the Clarity of thought field? This template turns these anecdotes into evidence.

Sleep as the Foundation

Mental health professionals often look at sleep before they look at mood. The template includes fields for Sleep length and Sleep quality / on waking because sleep is often the leading indicator of a shift. A drop in sleep duration combined with "Disturbed / tired" quality often predicts a mood crash days before it happens.

By correlating your sleep data with your mood scores, you stop being a victim of your biology and start becoming its manager. You can see the crash coming and adjust your behavior—cancel plans, prioritize rest, contact your doctor—before the wave hits.