People with anxiety and depression are most likely to use a shade of gray to represent their mental state. 

Peter Whorwell, Professor of Medicine and Gastroenterology at University Hospital South Manchester, worked with a team of researchers from the University of Manchester, UK, to create an instrument that would allow people a choice of colours in response to questions. He said, “Colours are frequently used to describe emotions, such as being ‘green with envy’ or ‘in the blues’. Although there is a large, often anecdotal, literature on color preferences and the relationship of color to mood and emotion, there has been relatively little serious research on the subject”.

The researchers have developed a colour chart, The Manchester Color Wheel, which can be used to study people’s preferred colour in relation to their state of mind.

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