Table of Contents
Can I journal instead of therapy?
The Therapeutic Writing Protocol Therapeutic journaling can be done by keeping a regular journal to write about events that bring up anger, grief, anxiety, or joy that occur in daily life. It can also be used more therapeutically to deal with specific upsetting, stressful, or traumatic life events. Journaling happens to be one of the most therapist/counselor recommended, simplest and effective coping mechanisms for managing mental illness. However, it’s also one of the most underutilized tools. Journaling helps control your symptoms and improve your mood by: Helping you prioritize problems, fears, and concerns. Tracking any symptoms day-to-day so that you can recognize triggers and learn ways to better control them. Providing an opportunity for positive self-talk and identifying negative thoughts and … Journaling might just be the thing to help you rewire your brain, whether it’s a shift in attitude you seek or you’re trying to reach other life goals. Research even points to health benefits that can result from keeping a journal, such as increased immunity and reduced stress. But journaling isn’t for everyone. Some people find that it doesn’t feel calming or fulfilling and the stress of finding the “perfect” words to put on paper can be overwhelming. As a child, I would get super excited every time I got a new diary or notebook—and then stress out if I missed writing for a few days. The results suggest that keeping a journal led to more optimism and gratitude, both of which can boost well-being. A 2018 study suggests that writing about positive experiences for just 15 minutes a day three times a week may help ease feelings of anxiety and stress and boost resilience.
Is journaling the same as therapy?
If you’re feeling stressed, anxious, or down, try therapeutic journaling. While it’s not a total replacement for therapy, it is one tool that can help you to create meaning and feel better, or serve as a helpful addition to traditional talking therapies. Benefits of Journalling for Trauma Journalling, or expressive writing, can help people understand and process PTSD symptoms such as anger and anxiety. Trauma and PTSD impact our ability to effectively self-regulate our emotions, so writing about them on paper can offer valuable insight and perspective. Therapy is one way, but not the only way to heal from trauma as there are a variety of ways to heal such as: relationships and connection, re-connecting to our culture and ancestral customs, having a practice such as yoga and/or meditation, expression such as art, dance, and writing, and more. Writing, like anything, improves with practice. When you journal every day, you’re practicing the art of writing. And if you use a journal to express your thoughts and ideas, it can help improve your communication skills. Journaling also helps people hone their focus so that they think about only one thing at a time. When you write your thoughts by hand, you can only write one word at a time. Your thoughts slow down to match your writing speed and you’ll find that it’s easier to slip out of your overthinking mindset. Journaling can make you feel worse when you brood on the page, when writing is just a method of venting in which you constantly reinforce the story at the core of your reactions and emotions. In this case, indulging your anger only prolongs it — and your suffering.
What do therapists say about journaling?
A recent study found that therapeutic journaling can help to improve psychological wellbeing by: Reducing intrusive thoughts. Decreasing the avoidance of negative thoughts. Improving working memory. Journaling evokes mindfulness and helps writers remain present while keeping perspective. It presents an opportunity for emotional catharsis and helps the brain regulate emotions. It provides a greater sense of confidence and self-identity. While some can write for hours at a time, researchers say that journaling for at least 15 minutes a day three to five times a week can significantly improve your physical and mental health. Stosny believes that journaling can take a negative turn when it wallows in the unpleasant things that have happened to you, makes you a passive observer in your life, makes you self-obsessed, becomes a vehicle of blame instead of solutions, and makes you live too much in your head.
Can journaling heal you?
Journaling provides a safe environment that enables you to face your traumas. When that happens, remarkable healing follows. Indeed, studies find that journaling can reduce pain, improve depression, and even lower markers of inflammation. Journaling via an online blog or through an app can be just as helpful. This carries similar benefits to traditional journaling by triggering a dopamine release, a chemical that helps regulate emotional responses and improve mood. Can journaling help with anxiety? The answer is yes. A 2018 research study found that people who journaled had a reduction in symptoms of depression and anxiety. That’s because the process of writing can release pent-up feelings and negative thoughts, which helps to quiet the mind. So can journaling be harmful? The answer is yes, there are scenarios in which journaling can be harmful, but these scenarios are easily avoidable. Just like anything, you have to moderate the amount of time you spend doing it. You simply have to know when to stop. Journaling helps you declutter your mind, which leads to better thinking. Writing in a journal also sharpens your memory and improves your learning capability. There’s a reason why when you take the time to pen your thoughts, plans, and experiences, you remember them better, while also feeling more focused.
Is journaling good for Mental Health?
Journaling can support coping and reduce the impact of stressful events – potentially avoiding burnout and chronic anxiety. Studies link writing privately about stressful events and capturing thoughts and emotions on paper with decreased mental distress. It helps you face anxious thoughts, and even embrace them. By writing things down, you’ll face your vulnerabilities, which can reduce stress. And there’s research to back it up, too. Positive affect journaling (PAJ) has been found to reduce symptoms of anxiety and depression and improve well-being. Write about your traumatic experience. Be as detailed as you can with what happened and how it made you feel, both emotionally and physically. Write about what you learned from the experience, whether it’s good or bad. How does the experience affect you now? Enhance Your Intelligence Writing has long been connected with the ability to increase your own intelligence and even to improve your IQ. By writing through a journal, you’re actively stimulating your brain, putting thoughts into written form and expanding your vocabulary.
Is journaling good for mental health?
Journaling can support coping and reduce the impact of stressful events – potentially avoiding burnout and chronic anxiety. Studies link writing privately about stressful events and capturing thoughts and emotions on paper with decreased mental distress. Ultimately, to get the full emotional benefit of journaling, it’s best to tell a narrative, not just recap your day, and write through your emotions. Write about a few things that happened during the day and, more importantly, how those events, epiphanies, or interactions made you feel. Studies have also shown that journaling can reduce the frequency of intrusive, depressive thoughts, help college students who are vulnerable to depression, and reduce overall levels of depression in those diagnosed with a Major Depressive Disorder. There are also benefits of journaling for anxiety symptoms. No. It’s not a waste of time. It’s a false choice. Journaling and creative writing are qualitatively different enterprises.
Can journaling heal trauma?
THE THERAPEUTIC WRITING PROTOCOL bring up anger, grief, anxiety, or joy that occur in daily life. It can also be used more therapeutically to deal with specific upsetting, stressful, or traumatic life events. Journaling For PTSD From a psychological perspective, expressive writing appears to improve people’s coping ability with the symptoms of PTSD, such as anxiety and anger. Regarding physical changes, journaling can help reduce body tension and improve focus. Research suggests writing about trauma can be beneficial because it helps people re-evaluate their experiences by looking at them from different perspectives. Studies suggest writing about traumatic events can help ease the emotional pressure of negative experiences. I’m going to share my process for what I call “deep journaling” — which is a structured way to confront difficult emotions on the page. it’s a process I’ve been using for many years to work through deep and dark things. it’s painful and clarifying, like a bitter tonic. In healing from the pain that comes after a breakup, we need to accept, let go, and move forward. One way of accomplishing that is by journaling. Journaling helps get your thoughts and feelings onto paper. You uncover what you’re going through and feeling, then work through solutions while writing. Journaling is a method of expressing and releasing thoughts and feelings. It can be a powerful tool for healing. Just as talking to someone about feelings, experiences, and emotions, journaling can also allow for the release of these thoughts and allow you to emotionally process what you’ve been dealing with.