Table of Contents
Should I journal my trauma?
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. Therapeutic journaling is the process of writing down our thoughts and feelings about our personal experiences. This kind of private reflection allows us to sort through events that have occurred and problems that we may be struggling with. 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. 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. 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.
Can journaling help process trauma?
Along the way, this can mean writing ourselves to better emotional and physical health and a greater sense of well-being. 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. Writing about thoughts and feelings that arise from a traumatic or stressful life experience — called expressive writing — may help some people cope with the emotional fallout of such events.
Is it good to write down your trauma?
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. Therapists also recommend writing trauma stories in the present tense. The view allows the events to occur in the present moment of your mind rather than keeping them in the past, where many people store negative thoughts to avoid dealing with them. Present tense provides vivid and emotional descriptions. Hence, shame has recently come to be identified in the trauma literature as part of a constellation of negative emotions (along with fear, horror, anger, guilt) that are common for trauma survivors in post-trauma states. If you live with complex trauma or post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), trauma dumping or oversharing could be a natural trauma response and coping mechanism. 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.
Should I write about my childhood trauma?
It’s important that you show someone reading your trauma narrative the experience rather than just telling them about it. Writing a trauma narrative can also help you discover triggers that you weren’t even aware of. Potentially traumatic events include: Psychological, physical, or sexual abuse. Community or school violence. Witnessing or experiencing domestic violence. 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. Traumatic reactions can include a variety of responses, such as intense and ongoing emotional upset, depressive symptoms or anxiety, behavioral changes, difficulties with self-regulation, problems relating to others or forming attachments, regression or loss of previously acquired skills, attention and academic … The trauma-informed approach is guided four assumptions, known as the “Four R’s”: Realization about trauma and how it can affect people and groups, recognizing the signs of trauma, having a system which can respond to trauma, and resisting re-traumatization. Therapeutic journaling is the process of writing down our thoughts and feelings about our personal experiences. This kind of private reflection allows us to sort through events that have occurred and problems that we may be struggling with.