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Frequently Asked Questions 1. What is the ChronoRecord Chart? 2. Who should use ChronoRecord? 4. Is a single mood point each day sufficient to chart mood disorders? 8. Must patients be very knowledgeable about computers to use ChronoRecord? 9. Can anybody read the data on a patient's home computer? 10. How are patients trained remotely? 11. Can anybody read the mood charts that are sent by e-mail? 13. Does the ChronoRecord Association patient store data on the Internet?> 14. Does ChronoRecord run on a Mac? 1. What is the ChronoRecord Chart? The ChronoRecord Chart is a longitudinal display of data entered by a patient using ChronoRecord software on a home computer or on the web - mood, sleep, life events, medications, weight and menstrual data if female. The data is displayed in three graphs: Mood Versus Time, Sleep Versus Time and Medications Versus Time. The display extends for a period of 30, 60, 90, 120 or 180 days and any date may be selected as the starting date. The ChronoRecord Charts are easy to understand and provide a graphical display of the patient's progress. 2. Who should use ChronoRecord? ChronoRecord is designed for tracking patients who were diagnosed with a mood disorder, are suspected of having a mood disorder or are having mood changes in association with other psychiatric disorders or medical illnesses. 3. Can ChronoRecord be used to track the mood of patients with other psychiatric disorders or medical illnesses? Yes. ChronoRecord may be used to track parameters that frequently vary in patients with other psychiatric disorders or medical illnesses such as such as mood, sleep and body weight. In addition, ChronoRecord will provide an accurate longitudinal record of drug therapies. This is valuable for following the depression that may commonly accompany psychiatric disorders such as schizophrenia or anxiety disorders, or medical illnesses such as heart disease or hypothyroidism. Where mania is triggered by medications such as corticosteroids, antidepressants and stimulants, ChronoRecord can provide an effective means to track recovery. 4. Is a single mood point each day sufficient to chart mood disorders? Yes. Using ChronoRecord, every day the patient enters a single point that best describes the overall mood for the previous 24 hours. Validation studies have shown that entering a single point correlates with a clinician's objective rating of mood and adequately describes an individual's mood in the previous 24 hours. Over time, longitudinal analysis of these data points will display the pattern of the patient's mood disorder. All variants of mood disorders, including rapid cycling, can be tracked. 5. What about patients who suffer episodes of mixed mania? Is a single mood point each day sufficient to chart these patients? Yes. When enrolled in the system, the 0 and 100 anchor points are calibrated to each patient's most extreme total manic and depressed experience. These descriptions, including dysphoria and irritability in mania, are recorded in the system. It is our experience that patients who experience a mixed mood of irritable mania and depression will generally enter a data point for mood in the manic range along with decreased hours of sleep. When such states occur we encourage the individual to also describe the mixed state in the notes available. 6. What if a patient includes depressive symptoms in the description of their anchor point for mania (most extreme manic state)? Patients often describe a mixed episode as their most extreme manic state and thus include depressive symptoms such as suicidal thoughts. The patient identifies the hyperactivity, increased drive, racing thoughts as mania even when accompanied by depressed or irritable mood. Patients who have experienced both a manic and a mixed episode will invariably describe the mixed episode, typified by agitation, insomnia, and suicidal thinking, as the extreme anchor point for mania. Patients who experience a mixed mood of irritable mania and depression will generally enter a data point for mood in the manic range along with decreased hours of sleep. 7. What instructions are given to patients on how to enter the daily mood rating using ChronoRecord software? ChronoRecord uses a Visual Analog Scale between 0 and 100 for mood entry. The anchor points (0 and 100) on the scale are set during enrollment when the patient describes the most depressed and most manic states ever experienced. This description includes mood, irritability, energy level and overall functioning. The patients are given the following guidelines for daily entry of the single point that best describes overall mood for the past 24 hours:
8. Must patients be very knowledgeable about computers to use ChronoRecord? No. Only basic familiarity with a personal computer is required. ChronoRecord is easy to use and fast to complete. Only a few minutes a day must be spent a day to enter ChronoRecord data; speed of use was of primary importance during product design. 9. Can anybody read the data on a patient's home computer? No. The ChronoRecord data file on the patient's home computer and in the E-mail sent from the patient to the physician are all encrypted using the patient's password. Without knowing the patient's password, the content of the data files cannot be read. 10. How are patients trained remotely? We schedule two phone calls with the patient. The first call lasts less than 10 minutes and is used to register the patient. During the second phone call, we install the software, enter a day of data and review all aspects of using ChronoRecord. The second phone call takes about 30 minutes. 11. Can anybody read the mood charts that are sent by e-mail? No. All medical data that you send to the ChronoRecord Association and any charts you or your physician receive from the ChronoRecord Association are protected by password encryption. You choose your password when you register to use ChronoRecord and use it to access the program every day. When you prepare data to be sent to the Association, ChronoRecord automatically encrypts your data with your personal password. When you receive charts from the Association using e-mail, you must use the ChronoRecord Secure program to decrypt the data with your personal password before you can view it. Without your personal password, your medical data cannot be read. 12. What if a patient includes symptoms of mania in their description of their anchor point for depression (most depressed state)? Some patients describe manic symptoms such as agitation, racing thoughts or lack of sleep during their most extreme depressed state. The patient identifies this severe agitation as depression. This may be recorded as the most depressed state for the patient. 13. Does the ChronoRecord Association store patient data on the Internet? No. ChronoRecord patient data is not stored on servers in the Cloud or on servers located or managed by an Internet Service Provider. All ChronoRecord patient data is stored locally on servers managed by ChronoRecord administrators. 14. Does ChronoRecord run on a Mac? Yes. ChronoRecord will run on a Mac running Apple macOS® version 10.9 and above as well as on Microsoft Windows® 7/8/8.1/10.
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