What do you write in a mood journal?
A mood journal is a place to write about how you feel over time. You can describe a difficult moment, a pleasant conversation or an ordinary, quiet day. You do not have to sum up an entire day in one word or explain every emotion.
This template gives you room to describe one situation at a time in your own words. The prompts organize your account without assigning a score to your day or interpreting it clinically.
- Situation: where you were, what you were doing and what happened. Include any context you want to remember.
- How I felt: choose words that fit, such as irritated, relieved, sad or excited. You might have more than one feeling about the same situation.
- Effect on my day: describe what you did next or how it affected a task, a conversation or a plan.
- Question: write down anything you want to understand or discuss with your healthcare professional. You can leave this blank if you do not have a question.
A filled-in mood journal example
An entry can look like this without turning into a long account:
- Date and time: October 12, around 3 p.m.
- Situation: an urgent task came in while I was finishing another piece of work. I had slept less than usual.
- How I felt: irritated and worried about the deadline.
- Effect on my day: I stopped what I was doing and put off grocery shopping.
- Question: what should I pay attention to when an unexpected task changes the rest of my day this much?
The note mentions sleep as context without concluding that it caused the irritation. You can also write about a pleasant moment: “I talked with a friend after lunch, felt supported and went back to work feeling calmer.”
This free template has space for one situation per sheet. Choose “Copy template” to use it in your notes app, or “Print template” to write on paper. Your browser’s print dialog also lets you save the blank sheet as a PDF.
My mood journal
One situation at a time. Use your own words and leave anything you do not know blank.
If you are writing from memory, mark any details that are approximate.
Prefer to keep your notes on your phone?
Available for Android in Brazil
How to keep these notes in EntreConsultas
In EntreConsultas, you can describe a situation in a free-text note and save a question for your appointment.
- Open “Add an entry” and choose “Note”. In “What happened?”, write the situation, your feelings and the effect on your day. Check the date and time, then tap “Save note”.
- Save your question under “Question for your appointment”. You can also find this option in “Add an entry”. Write what you want to discuss with your healthcare professional and save it.
- Review your questions in “Appointment”. Before your visit, choose the topics you want to discuss. With Premium, you can put the entries and questions you select into a PDF.
The daily check-in also lets you record focus, energy, sleep and how easy or difficult it was to manage emotions. A free-text note adds the details of a particular situation. You can use the prompts above within a single note; they do not require separate app fields.
No account is required, and health data stays on your device. The app is available for Android in Brazil and has an English interface. The blank template on this page is free; PDFs containing your app records are a Premium feature.
What to bring to your next appointment
Read through your entries and choose the situations you most want to discuss. Keep their dates and your questions. If something happens repeatedly, describe the occasions without deciding on a cause yourself.
NIMH recommends preparing your questions and concerns before an appointment. As you review your journal, use your own questions to prepare that list.
You do not have to write every day or complete an unbroken streak before bringing a question to an appointment. Use our doctor appointment checklist to prepare for the visit. If you also want to describe other symptoms and how long they lasted, see the symptom diary template.
