MEDIA FIZZ

A smartphone app called "T2 Mood Tracker" was developed for military service members to keep up with their mental health. An article from Wired Magazine reported that 30% of military service members develop some type of mental health issue after deployment within for months of their return home. The app created specifically for service members to keep a diary of their mental health is now available for use on the Android phone and should be available for iPhone users in the near future. Therapists/physicians collect patient information of their moods or symptoms that they experience over the previous weeks and months and research has shown that the way they gather information about a patient can lead to a collection of inaccurate information about mood. Psychologist Perry Bosmajian with National Center for TeleHealth and Technology says "the best record of an experience is when it's recorded at the time and place it happens." The smartphone app works like a high-tech diary for users to express their emotions, behaviors, and daily experiences. Here's how the App works....
1. It tracks specific issues

• anxiety
• depression
• stress
• post traumatic stress
• brain injury
• general well-being  

2. Each issue has a set of 10 descriptions (called feeling or affective anchors) - these anchors let users hone in on just how the issues affect them through a visual scale and touch screen where you can choose a point on a color continuum that reflects your emotions. 

The daily expressions add up over time to produce a trend that can be observed by physicians and therapists.

I've got an iPhone and the "T2 Mood Tracker" is still not available, but I hope it will be soon because I'm interested in seeing how it works or if it's actually effective. I think all of us could use something that help us express our emotions and behaviors, but I wonder if a smartphone app could actually take the place of actually therapy with a licensed physician.