Recovering from psychosis is a process of trial and error. Some days you will feel better than others, although often it is hard to say why exactly. It could be because your activities and symptoms have an effect on each other. Sometimes in a positive way, at other times more negative.
Emotions such as anxiety and depression can make your more suspicious. And stressful social interactions may trigger you to hear voices. While positive experiences can enhance your positive feelings.
It can be hard to find your way out of a negative spiral
What might help you in this, is keeping track of your activities and how they make you feel.
Doing this consistently, can help you understand which activities will help you feel better in the long run. You can also show if your medication is helping you and if you are suffering from any possible side effects.
But… How can you keep track of your activities and mood, for weeks at a time, several times a day? To help you with this, we developed a free app: PsyMate.
Watch the animation about the PsyMate app
The PsyMate app
PsyMate can be downloaded for free at the Google Play store and the Apple App Store. Several times a day, at random moments, PsyMate sends you a message. It asks you how you feel, what you are thinking about, what you are doing, who is with you and where you are. Answering takes about one or two minutes.
PsyMate stores your data securely and processes them into graphs. These graphs are visible online, possibly also for your care worker if you prefer. After a while, your get more and more info on how your mood responds to the activities you choose. That knowledge allows you to do more of the things that improve your well-being, which is the first step towards your personal recovery.
Prof. dr. Jim van Os, Chair Division Neuroscience, Utrecht University Medical Centre. Jim is also Visiting Professor of Psychiatric Epidemiology at the Institute of Psychiatry in London. Jim works at the interface of ‘hard’ brain science, health services research, art and subjective experiences of people with ‘lived experience’ in mental healthcare.
Jim has been appearing on the Thomson-Reuter Web of Science list of ‘most influential scientific minds of our time’ since 2014. In 2014 he published his book ‘Beyond DSM-5‘, and in 2016 the book ‘Good Mental Health Care’.
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