What is the best mood tracker for BPD?

Look for several entries per day, emotions, and tags for triggers and skills. Pixy has these and is free with no account. If your therapist uses a DBT diary card, keep using it. Pixy is not a diary card.

Can Pixy replace a DBT diary card?

No. A DBT diary card tracks urges, behaviors, and skills in a format your therapist expects. Pixy can add mood shifts through the day and a long-term view next to it.

How often should I log my mood with BPD?

Moods with BPD can change within hours, so several short entries a day show more than one rating at night. Log when your mood shifts, plus once at a fixed time.

Pixy stores entries on your phone. There is no account and no cloud sync. The app sends anonymous usage data and crash reports to help fix errors.

Mood tracking guide

Mood tracker for BPD: see what shifts your mood, hour by hour

With borderline personality disorder (BPD), moods can be intense and change within hours. Looking back, those hours blur. Short entries through the day, tagged with what happened, show the shifts and their triggers. This guide covers what to track and how it fits with therapy such as DBT.

Last reviewed October 18, 2026 by the Pixy team. Not medically reviewed. 4 sources.

Pixy is not a replacement for professional care

Pixy is a self-tracking tool, not a medical device or therapy. It cannot diagnose, treat, or monitor any condition. Talk to a doctor or therapist about your symptoms and your care.

If you are in crisis or thinking about suicide, get help now. In the US, call or text 988 (988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline). In the UK, call Samaritans on 116 123. Elsewhere, find a free helpline at findahelpline.com or call your local emergency number.

What mood looks like with BPD

BPD involves intense and highly variable moods. Episodes last from a few hours to a few days.^[1]

In a study where outpatients rated their mood up to six times a day for about a month, people with BPD had about the same average mood as people with depression. Their mood changed much more from moment to moment.^[2]

Shifts often follow something that happens with another person: a conflict, feeling left out, or time with friends.

Why BPD moods are hard to track

Memory flattens the swings

In the same research group, people's recall of their mood changes agreed poorly with what they had logged in the moment.^[3]

One rating a day misses the point

If mood changes within hours, a nightly rating shows an average that never happened.

Shame after a hard day

Looking at a red day can hurt. A log is information for you and your therapist, not a grade.

Therapy asks for daily records

DBT, which was developed for BPD, uses a daily diary card.^[1] Keeping a card and an app in parallel can feel like double work.

What to track with BPD, and why

Mood, several times a day: Captures the shifts that make up BPD moods.^[2]
The emotion: Rejected, ashamed, angry, lonely. Naming the emotion is a skill in itself.
What happened: Conflict, feeling left out, time with friends. These are the triggers to look for.
Skills you used: A tag for skills practice shows what you did, next to how you felt after.

How clinicians use mood records

Dialectical behavior therapy (DBT) was developed for BPD.^[1] DBT uses a diary card to record emotions, urges, behaviors, and skills each day. Therapists often review it at the start of a session.

A mobile diary app for DBT was acceptable to patients and therapists in a feasibility study.^[4]

If your therapist gives you a diary card, use it. A mood tracker can add the hour-by-hour shifts and a view across months.

What tracking can look like: a week with BPD

One made-up week with 2 to 5 entries a day. Mood drops sharply after a conflict or feeling left out, and recovers over hours.

Example data, not a real personIllustration, not a Pixy screen

Extremely badExtremely good

Example: how your entries can look as a trend

This chart is drawn from the made-up entries on this page, using Pixy's colors. Pixy's statistics show a mood chart of your own entries. Pixy does not draw this exact chart, the tag rows below it, or mark episodes. You spot the patterns yourself.

Every entry of the week, with tag rows below. Drops follow conflict, and evening entries after skills practice are higher.

What you can spot in this example

The sharpest drops come right after entries tagged "conflict" or "felt left out".
Moods recover within hours. That is the episode length NIMH describes.
Entries tagged "skills practice" come after the lowest points and are higher than them. Bring patterns like this to your therapist, who can help you read them.

How Pixy can help you track BPD moods

Pixy lets you log as many entries per day as you like, each with a color, emotions, tags, and a note.

Tags to create

conflictAn argument or tense moment with someone.
felt left outOr another common trigger for you.
time with friendsGood moments count too.
skills practiceAny DBT or coping skill you used.
therapySession days.

Setup and routine

1Create the tags above in Settings, Tags. Use the triggers and skills from your therapy.
2Turn on the daily reminder and pick a time you are usually free, such as after dinner.
3Add an entry each time your mood shifts, not just once a day. Pixy keeps every entry and colors the day by their average.
4Pick the emotions that fit. Each of Pixy's 72 emotions has a short description.
5Write a line in the note about what happened. It helps when you look back with your therapist.
6Before an appointment, open the monthly report or Year in Pixels and show it on your phone, or take screenshots. Pixy has no printable report.
7Export your data now and then. Entries live only on your phone, with no cloud backup. The export is a JSON file, useful as a backup or for moving to a new phone.

What Pixy cannot do

Pixy is not a DBT diary card. It has no fields for urges, target behaviors, or skill ratings.
Pixy has no crisis features and no safety plan. Keep your safety plan where you can reach it.
Pixy cannot diagnose BPD or judge your progress. Your therapist can.

FAQ

Frequently Asked Questions