SweetCarley's Journal

Here's a link to a new software package for depression.  I think it's great.  I intend on purchasing it. I've written them and made a recommendaiton about adding a module for tracking diet triggers.

http://www.findingoptimism.com/software/overview.html

The site says "The program is basically an advanced health and mood diary. It helps you discover your depression triggers, the symptoms that they produce, and based on this knowledge, effective strategies for staying mentally well. Its great strengths are its charts and report, which together give you a visual "birds-eye view" for identifying the important cause and effect relationships. Many people discover, when looking back over their health records, that their depressive episodes have been quite predictable."

Benefits

Monitor your health easily. Optimism prompts you to keep a record of all things that impact on your mental health, both positive and negative, creating a valuable record of your depression triggers, symptoms, and useful stay-well strategies.

Identify cause & effect relationships. Simple to follow, visuals highlight connections between the factors that positively and negatively affect your health.

Plan your health. Formulate a Stay Well Plan within the software, a dynamic document that you adjust as you learn more about managing your depression. Print or email it to your health provider or carer, together with a report, so they know how to help you stay on track.

Succeed. As most people who have recovered from depression will agree, it takes an awful lot of work to get better and then stay well. Those who are active and determined to pull things around tend to have the most success.