Every year World Bipolar Day is celebrated on the 30th March, the birthday of Vincent Van Gogh famously believed to have bipolar disorder. The vision of the day is to raise global awareness of the disorder and reduce stigma.
To mark this day we are saying a special thank you to the 1000 BDRN participants who have now joined True Colours an online system where individuals monitor their mood by completing quick, simple questions every week about their mood.
Reaching 1000 participants joining True Colours is a huge achievement and we are extremely grateful to everyone who has helped us reach this milestone. The information will be invaluable in helping us learn more about how mood symptoms change over time for individuals with bipolar and related mood disorders.
Responses to questions are displayed in easy to read graphs which participants can print off and may help show how their mood is affected by various factors such as changes in routine. We have received lots of positive feedback from participants using True Colours. Here Michael Spiers, a BDRN participant and research champion, describes his experience of using the True Colours system….
“I find it extremely useful for when I am periodically visiting my clinicians for ongoing monitoring of my condition. When asked how I have been since my last visit, to which my response has been and can only ever be my own subjective opinion, I now have objective, documentary evidence (True Colours graphs) that I print out beforehand and take with me for joint examination and discussion. I also find it useful in that it allows me to similarly monitor myself on a weekly basi
