Monitor your mental health

Depression is a serious issue that all to often is not taken seriously enough or the sufferer simply does not how to handle it.

Optimism is a very organized tool that monitors your mental health daily by helping you keep a record of thoughts and feelings so that you are better able to monitor your own recovery (and help your doctor or psychologist in the process). According to the developers, one of the most effective the tactics used by therapists is recording mood swings and use of leisure time and Optimism is perfect for this task. So that you can record your feelings when away from the computer, there’s also iPhone and iPod synchronization with Optimism.

Every day you can rate how you feel and the extent to which the quality and quantity of sleep is varying and whether you took medication or not. Optimism also has a box to add notes to the strategies employed, the things that cause you stress and daily symptoms. Afterwards, the program generates bar charts to track how you were feeling across a specified period of time. The reports can also be saved in CSV, PDF or printed directly from the program.

Finally, Optimism aims to help you recover via the Plan section which allows you to draw up a set of targets that you should aim for in order to improve your mental health. This covers everything from recognizing what triggers depressive periods to stay-well strategies.

Optimism is an excellent and sensitively designed tool for those that are undergoing psychotherapy or simply want to start a road to recovery.

* Version 3.4.0 includes changes for a smoother sync with the web app and iPhone/iPod. After the first sync with the online database, alerts for later syncing are switched on automatically. When a change is made in the web app or iPhone/iPod, the software will provide an alert when it is first opened that it needs to be synced. If a change has been made in the software and not uploaded for the web app of iPhone/iPod then there will an alert on closing. The alerts can be switched off in the preferences if they are no longer needed. * There is a new toolbar icon for the online sync. * In a few cases the username has not worked in the sync function, and users have had to enter their registered email address. This has been fixed. * The trial period is now 14 days (previously 7).

Changes

• * Version 3.4.0 includes changes for a smoother sync with the web app and iPhone/iPod. After the first sync with the online database, alerts for later syncing are switched on automatically. When a change is made in the web app or iPhone/iPod, the software will provide an alert when it is first opened that it needs to be synced. If a change has been made in the software and not uploaded for the web app of iPhone/iPod then there will an alert on closing. The alerts can be switched off in the preferences if they are no longer needed. * There is a new toolbar icon for the online sync. * In a few cases the username has not worked in the sync function, and users have had to enter their registered email address. This has been fixed. * The trial period is now 14 days (previously 7).