A retrospective mood chart is a distillation of information from many sources into a graphical representation of a person’s mood, functioning, and anxiety over time. Simultaneously, information about treatments and events is recorded on the graph and the result allows the clinician and the patient to jointly make the best decisions possible in terms of treatment.

There are several questions that often come up when the issue of doing a retrospective mood chart comes up:

• Many people feel that they already have a very clear understanding of what works and what doesn’t (often they feel that nothing works). All we can say in response is that we have never found that to be the case when we actually sit down to do a chart.
• Some people are concerned that the process will be overwhelming. They don’t recall what has been tried, or they can’t remember how they have felt. We have developed techniques for getting information that are almost always successful. We use multiple sources of information: past records, pharmacy records, interviews with family and friends (with permission, of course), etcetera.
• Sometimes people feel that they are in too much distress to wait for an answer. We understand that feeling, but we also know that a process that will greatly increase the likelihood of finding a solution to a problem that has been a burden for months or years can be extraordinarily valuable.

Click here to read the National Institute for Mental Health Retrospective Mood Charting Manual.

The process involves three steps which can occur in any order but usually take place this way…

List of Events

The patient, and perhaps others who know the patient well, fill out a list of events for the last five year using a spreadsheet that we have created to help organize the information.

List of Events for Retrospective Mood Chart

Medications

Information about medications, doses, duration and, perhaps response to medications is gathered from several sources.

Past Medical Records

Your clinician at Gateway will have you fill out a release of information form and will mail or fax that to past providers.

Release of Information to GPS

Sadly, many times it is hard to get medical records from past providers. You should know that, by federal law, you have a right to a copy of those records. Your provider does not actually have to respond to our request, but he or she does have to provide you with records. Therefore, it may be necessary for you to contact past providers to encourage them to get the records to us, or to you.

For more on this process read this blog post. 

Records Gathering Services

We have worked in the past with Verisk Health, Records Retrieval Company. A service which, for a relatively low rate, will automate the process of requesting records.

Pharmacy Records

Pharmacy records can provide very useful information about medication prescribed. Most pharmacies will provide you with the past two years of prescriptions filled at that pharmacy immediately upon request.

Older data is available but has to be requested from the company’s archived data.

The forms for CVS and Walgreens are here…

CVS Archived Pharmacy Records Request Form

Walgreens Archived Pharmacy Records Request Form

Mood Data

Information about moods over time is entered into the chart based on any information contained in the medical records and, most especially, a meeting to review all the information available with the patient.

Online Review

Often the easiest way to do this is with an online meeting. This allows both the clinician and the patient to be looking at the same form. Alternatively, a pen and paper form can be completed in an in person meeting and then that information can be transferred to the final retrospective mood chart by administrative staff.

Collateral Information

Sometimes collateral sources (family, close friends) can help fill in the gaps when a patient has trouble remembering past events and moods.