Table of Contents
What is a healing diary?
Welcome to your healing journal. In this journal, you will find writing prompts to encourage deep thinking about how your past has affected you and how you can overcome your obstacles. This journal is for you and you alone. No one else can feel what you are feeling. Be open and honest with yourself. 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. 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. 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.
What is healing writing?
Writing is no stranger to therapy. For years, practitioners have used logs, questionnaires, journals and other writing forms to help people heal from stresses and traumas. Now, new research suggests expressive writing may also offer physical benefits to people battling terminal or life-threatening diseases. 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. 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. Alternative options to therapy include exercise (like yoga and dance), meditation, art, music, journaling, and reading. Mental health apps are available to help support you as well. If available to you, animals can also be a great resource for emotional connection. 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.