Loop Mind is a thought journal for people who overthink: talk or type what's on your mind, and see the thought, the loop it's in, and what's fact versus assumption.
Where thought tracking comes from
Thought tracking comes from cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT), where the classic tool is the thought record. It appears as the "Daily Record of Dysfunctional Thoughts" in Aaron Beck and colleagues' 1979 book Cognitive Therapy of Depression, and later versions ask you to write down the situation, the thought, and the evidence for and against it.
Research on repetitive thinking shows why the content of a thought matters, not just the mood around it. Susan Nolen-Hoeksema (1991) linked going over a low mood and its causes, again and again, with low moods that last longer, and Thomas Borkovec and colleagues (1983) described worry as a chain of negative thoughts and images that feels hard to control. Edward Watkins' 2008 review adds the useful part: repetitive thinking tends to help when it's concrete and specific ("what exactly did she say?"), and tends to keep you stuck when it's abstract and evaluative ("why am I always like this?").
Two tools, two different questions
| Mood tracker | Thought journal |
|---|
| What you log | How you feel: a score, an emoji, a few tags like "work" or "slept badly" | What your mind is doing: the thought itself, in your own words, typed or spoken |
| What it shows over time | When you feel worse, and what lines up with it | Why: which thoughts keep coming back, which loop they're in, and how much of it is assumption |
| Good for | Spotting links with sleep, your cycle or your routine. Logging in seconds on low-energy days | The same worries, replays and arguments with yourself, week after week |
| Examples | Daylio (two-tap moods and activities), How We Feel (free emotion check-ins), Bearable (links symptoms and moods to habits) | Paper thought records from CBT, Loop Mind |
Which one do you need?
- You mostly want to know when you feel low. A mood tracker. It's quick, and it's good at showing links with sleep, your cycle and your routine.
- You keep thinking about the same things and want to know why. A thought journal. It shows the thoughts themselves and the loops they fall into.
- Both? That's fine. They answer different questions, so a two-second mood tap and a thought journal entry don't compete.
How Loop Mind works
- Talk or type. Check in by voice or text, as messy as it comes out.
- See fact vs assumption. Loop Mind reflects the entry back and separates what you know from what you're assuming.
- Watch your loops over the months. Each entry shows which of 7 loops it's in: the inner critic, what-ifs, replaying the past, relationships, decisions, body and health, and big questions. With Clarity, the paid plan, you see which ones you lean on over the months.
Questions people ask
What is a thought journal?
A thought journal is where you write down specific thoughts as they happen, instead of a summary of your day. The classic version is the CBT thought record: the situation, the thought, and the evidence for and against it.
Is a thought journal the same as a diary?
No. A diary records your day. A thought journal records the specific thoughts that keep coming back, so you can see what they are and what pattern they follow.
Is a mood tracker enough?
For spotting when you feel low and what lines up with it, often yes. If you already know when, and the same thoughts keep coming back, a mood score won't show you what those thoughts are.
What's the difference between a mood tracker and a journal?
A mood tracker is fast and structured: a score, an emoji, a few tags. A journal holds your actual words, but pages of entries don't sort themselves, so patterns stay buried. A thought journal like Loop Mind keeps your words and sorts them into patterns.
Is Loop Mind therapy?
No. Loop Mind is a journal, not a substitute for clinical care, and it doesn't replace working with a professional. It shows you what your mind keeps doing so you can see it more clearly.
Your mood tells you something's off. Your thoughts tell you what. Get Loop Mind on the App Store