Optimism gives you a platform for actively learning about your depression. By monitoring the patterns in your life it helps you to see the various factors, internal and external, that impact on your mental health. Optimism prompts you to keep a detailed record of all things that affect your health, creating a valuable record that reveals the triggers that you need to avoid, and the helpful strategies that benefit your health. Simple charts highlight the cause and effect relationships that might otherwise be missed, and there is a template for developing a Stay Well Plan, a dynamic document that you adjust as you learn more about managing your illness. All of the output can be printed and sent or emailed to your health provider or carers, to help them gain insight on how to help you.

As most people who have recovered from mental illness agree, it takes an awful lot of work to get better and then stay well. Those who are active and determined to pull things around tend to have...