A life chart is a systematic and centralized way to track your moods over the course of time, typically each day of a particular month. It provides a snapshot of data on the course of the illness for the patient and/or clinician by using a standardized form.
The basic nature of life charting shows mood states over the course of each day with moods labeled on the left-hand side of the chart, and each day of the month labeled across the top or bottom of the chart. This creates a graphical picture of how moods have fluctuated over the course of time. This can even be done over the course of a week, which is especially helpful to share with a therapist during weekly sessions.
History
Life charting was first used at the beginning of the twentieth century by Dr. Emil Kraepelin to help him distinguish between schizophrenia and bipolar disorder. The National Institute of Mental Health then developed one called the NIMH-LCM based on Dr. Kraepelin's principles to help psychiatrists and therapists treat their patients and help determine the effectiveness of medication, as it can be of great value for current and future treatment strategies.
Use of Life Charting
The patient or the clinician can use the life chart method. Several studies have shown that patients are capable of completing it without assistance to help in their treatment program.
It can be difficult for a patient to remember what mood state they were in on a particular day, or even how much their moods fluctuated over the course of a specific timeframe. Instead of trying to remember and relay the information to the psychiatrist or therapist, a life chart is a useful tool to look at for both the patient and clinician to discuss. It provides a quick and easy way to visually look at the mood fluctuations and determine if the current treatment options are working for the patient.
It can also give the patient something to discuss during a session. For example, if there is a significant fluctuation in depression during a specific day or over the course of a few days, the clinician can ask the patient what caused the depression. This can help determine whether it was caused by the onset of an environmental event, or if the patient's current medications are not working to help control depression.l
The Life Chart
A life chart has two separate sections, one for mania and one for depression. In each section, the symptoms range from mild, to moderate, to severe, which gives the patient six categories to check-off for a particular day. For mixed states, a patient can even experience both depression and mania during the same day.
The mild category means that the depression or mania is present, but that it caused little or no functional impairment. The moderate category means that the patient experienced either or both mania and depression that caused difficulty in a goal-oriented activity, such as being productive at work. The severe category means that the patient felt essentially incapacitated because of the mood state, which can even mean hospitalization if this is shown over the course of several days (NIMH Life Chart Manual).
How to Start Life Charting
Life charting is a very useful tool. Bipolar Network News provides some easy- to-use and understand forms and manuals. They have a link called Life Charts under their headline where you can find the information.
At the bottom of the article a patient prospective form and manual is provided to help guide the patient. They also provide a sample mood chart, so the patient can see what it is supposed to look like over the course of time.
Summary
Life charting can be an easy and useful tool for patients and their psychiatrists or therapists to utilize. Many patients may not see their psychiatrist but one time each month, and it can be quite difficult to remember how their moods fluctuated over the course of that month without some sort of tracking tool. Life charting has been clinically shown to help. It can also be useful for the patient as they manage their daily lives and try to understand their bipolar disorder and treatment plan.
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