Optimism - Monitor Your Depressive Illness

By Ricky Buchanan • October 10, 2008

Optimism is a program that helps you identify and keep track of things that impact your mental health. It helps you track possible triggers, symptoms, and strategies for staying well, and record your mood, coping, exercise, medication compliance, and sleep for each day.

Create a valuable record of the internal and external things that trigger your depression, the early warning signs and symptoms, and things that you can do to help you stay well.

Simple to follow reports and charts draw connections between the things impacting your health. Take the reports with you to appointments with your health professional, to help them provide you with a better, more tailored treatment.

I think that looking at the reports produced by Optimism, together with your doctor or therapist, could help you put together more of the puzzle of what affects your mental health. If your mental health professional is willing to help you put together a “stay well plan” which fits the structure that the Optimism program wants, that would also be helpful.

Website: Optimism

- Ricky Buchanan, ATMac

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Categories: Medical Needs, Supporters, Users
Tags: bipolar, depression, mental illness

About the Author

Ricky Buchanan

Ricky Buchanan is 33 years old and the founder and main writer for ATMac. She's bedridden with severe CFS/ME or perhaps a primary mitochondrial disorder - the doctors are not sure. When she's not working on ATMac or her other websitse she composes music, listens to audio books, does other disability advocacy, watches TV with her flatmate, and enjoys her cat.

One Response to “ Optimism - Monitor Your Depressive Illness ”

Depression Guide Dec 30th, 2008 at 7:49 pm

Ricky, thanks for the headsup on the software. It’s awesome! As a previous depression patient myself, you’ve no idea how this application is going to help others with the same affliction. My deepest appreciation and thanks!

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