You never know which mobile phone application the Department of Defense is going to glom onto next. Last time we checked, it was an automatic voice translation gadget to help our troops communicate with Pashtun and Dari speakers in Afghanistan. Now the Pentagon has its eye on an Android app that can help injured soldiers check their emotional state on a regular basis.

Called the T2 MoodTracker, the defense department's DoDVclips service ran a feature on it on Wednesday. Intrigued, I downloaded the program onto my Droid X, fired T2 up, and it immediately gave me some advice:

Health Tip: One source of anger is fear. The next time you get angry, ask yourself what made you afraid. If you work on the fear, the anger will get better.

Truth be told, I liked that suggestion so much, I closed the app and opened it again just to see what wisdom would splash across the main screen next:

Health Tip: Try to avoid words like 'should,' 'shouldn't,' 'must,' 'ought,' 'always,' 'have to,' or 'need to.' Statements including these words tend to increase anger.

How is it going?

This little mini-therapist was developed by the National Center for Telehealth and Technology, from whence comes the "T2" logo (in case you thought it might be the second Terminator movie). The center focuses on providing therapeutic solutions for the traumatic brain injuries that our fighting men and women overseas sustain all too frequently.

The gadget lets the user evaluate his or her mood on a regular basis via a series of slideable pointer charts. The "head injury" panel allows you to check your emotional state across a range of polarities, among them "confused" to "alert," "forgetful" to "sharp," "headache" to "no headache," and "impulsive" to "thoughtful."

Similar sliding panels evaluate "general well being," "anxiety," "depression," and "post traumatic stress." After you've input your feelings in any category over a range of days, the app serves up a line graph chart on your progress.

Obviously, MoodTracker is best used with a health specialist, that being the intent. Doctors and therapists often begin a session with the question, "How are things going since our last visit?" T2's description page explains.

"With this app it's easy to answer that question by sharing graphs of emotional experience since the previous appointment. No need to try to remember how you were feeling last week. It's all there, and the data were collected in real time. In addition, some research suggests that self-monitoring in and of itself has a therapeutic value by keeping people focused on the issue they are monitoring."

A better version

T2 also allows you to create a custom mood category, and input your own range of slideable pointers (I added "My Internet," with "fast" to "slow," "inspiring" to "distracting," and "expensive" to "affordable"—but that's probably not the core idea here).

There's no research on how well T2 works because the application is new. And doesn't appear to be any specific psychological methodology behind the device. It is intended to be used as the therapist and patient see fit. The app is just " a better version of a self-monitoring tool," T2 says.

Paper and pencil self-monitoring has been used in clinical settings for decades. Providers have traditionally asked for this kind of information from their patients because it is extremely useful in tracking progress or the lack thereof. Traditional paper and pencil self-monitoring has had a number of problems including patients losing data, forgetting to record data, and translating numerical data into meaningful information. There is every reason to believe that T2 MoodTracker self-monitoring will offer the same advantages as traditional self-monitoring that have been reported in the scientific literature.

The health technology group also anticipates the worry that somehow your MoodTracker emotional diary will wind up in the hands of the Secretary of Defense.

"The self-monitoring data are created by and belong to the user of T2 MoodTracker," T2 insists. "Like any other information a person decides to store on their phone, these data are as secure as the phone is."