Thread: severe mood swings - mood diary?

hi everybody, its nice to be here, i'm a little nervous about discussing this in public but i am so lonely and have no one to really talk to

since my husband passed ive had severe mood swings, some days im down and cant do anything, some days i feel like i'm going crazy. on the down days i sometimes think dark thoughts.

i did some research and talked to my g.p. who recommended writing down my moods, simply rating my mood and that i should take them to him to discuss referal to a therapist

i searched on ask jeeves and google and (edit) so far its working nicely. ive only been using it for a week now, and I can see already how my moods change, which is interesting, and i do feel more in control now i have it written down onine

does anyone else keep mood diaries? (edit)

thanks for reading this far, sorry to apparently moan at u (smile)

thanks

Samantha J

First, I offer you the upmost sympathy for such a tremendous loss in your life. The biggest change, aside from missing that person dearly, is the total change of life you go through when you lose someone that close to you. One thing I see people go through commonly after losing a spouse is the constant beating up of themselves. People tend to over analyze themselves. "Why am I STILL feeling this way after all this time? I'm SO weak". "Gosh...why can't I be more motivated to get things done? ____ would be so disappointed in me". etc. The opposite side of that, are the people who constantly band-aid the wound. The bandaid might keep the wound protected, but the wound needs air to heal. These people are the ones who appear strong, appear to have moved on with their life, appear to have it all together. But they don't. And eventually it catches up with them, then they're exhausted, depressed, emotionally drained. Different people respond differently, but the commonality is that the loss of a spouse is devastating and the loss will manifest and reveal itself in you in some way. Yours, is mood swings. I think the diary is an excellent way to regain control, but to also learn that you WILL feel differently from one day to the next sometimes even from one minute to the next, and you may not have any explanation why. Learning that it's OKAY to feel the way YOU feel right now is very important.

Keep up the mood diary.Also, when you have some free time , consider studying adult bereavement. I did this, wrote a paper on it in college, and it truly helped me and enlightened me to realize that I was MUCH more normal than I thought.