Journaling can help in many ways, including improving mood and managing symptoms of depression, a study said. Journaling can heal you faster, both emotionally and physically. In a 2005 study on the emotional and physical health benefits of expressive writing, researchers found that just 15 to 20 minutes of writing three to five times over the course of the four-month study was enough to make a positive impact, it added.
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Is journaling good for depression?
Many mental health experts recommend journaling because it can improve your mood and manage symptoms of depression. Studies support this and suggest journaling is good for your mental health. It may also make therapy work better. Whether you’re dealing with stress from school, burnout from work, an illness, or anxiety, journaling can help in many ways: It can reduce your anxiety. Journaling about your feelings is linked to decreased mental distress. While a journal cannot replace a therapist, it can be therapeutic. What a journal can do is help you to notice patterns in your behaviour and emotional responses. It’s an opportunity to reflect on your experiences, feelings, thoughts and behaviour. Journaling can heal you faster, both emotionally and physically. In a 2005 study on the emotional and physical health benefits of expressive writing, researchers found that just 15 to 20 minutes of writing three to five times over the course of the four-month study was enough to make a positive impact.
Does journal help with mental health?
Journaling about your feelings is linked to decreased mental distress. In a study, researchers found that those with various medical conditions and anxiety who wrote online for 15 minutes three days a week over a 12-week period had increased feelings of well-being and fewer depressive symptoms after one month. “An emotion journal allows you to record your feelings over several days or weeks and then notice patterns or trends,” Ruiz says. When you can recognize these trends, you can work to eliminate or avoid certain triggers — or focus your energy on how best to respond next time. 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. The expressive writing protocol consists of asking someone to write about a stressful, traumatic or emotional experience for three to five sessions, over four consecutive days, for 15-20 minutes per session. Research has found it to be useful as a stand-alone tool or as an adjunct to traditional psychotherapies. Many mental health experts recommend journaling because it can improve your mood and manage symptoms of depression. Studies support this and suggest journaling is good for your mental health. It may also make therapy work better. 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.
Can journaling make anxiety worse?
Sometimes keeping a journal of your thoughts, feelings, and experiences helps, but often it makes things worse. In general, it is likely to hurt if it tries to help you “know yourself” in isolation and helps if it leads to greater understanding and behavior change in your interactions with others. 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. Benefits of therapeutic journaling Keeping a record of ideas and concepts, or things you learn in therapy. Tracking your progress. Helping to make sense of thoughts and experiences, and organizing them in a meaningful way. Helping you to recognize patterns in thoughts, feelings or behavior. A self-care journal is a journal that you use to write about your thoughts, feelings, emotions, and reflections in a healthy way that will make yourself feel better. While any blank journal can be used, those that come with daily journal prompts are especially helpful if you’re new to this kind of activity. You can vent some of your strongest personal emotions that can’t be bottled up. You can discover clarity by sorting your mind’s jumble into words. As you wrap up your writing, you feel a lot lighter, as if you just had a conversation with your future self. While a journal cannot replace a therapist, it can be therapeutic. What a journal can do is help you to notice patterns in your behaviour and emotional responses. It’s an opportunity to reflect on your experiences, feelings, thoughts and behaviour.