Table of Contents
What is a journal therapist?
A therapy journal is a place to document your anxieties, reflections and hopes about the therapy journey you are on. It’s a useful tool because when you’re receiving therapy, the most important and valuable work goes on in-between sessions. Writing in a diary or journal may focus on recording events as they occur, while writing therapy is often focused on more meta-analytical processes: thinking about, interacting with, and analyzing the events, thoughts, and feelings that the writer writes down. 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. For those of us who value creativity and personal expression, keeping an art journal might be a fun way to document your DBT skills and daily mindfulness practice. Meditation is a common form to switch off and relax your mind, however journaling offers its own unique benefits also. Meditation may help empty the mind of concerns and bring positive outlooks, but journaling helps us flow through a state of unconscious to release built up patterns, fears and then let them go.
What type of therapy is journaling?
Writing therapy, a form of expressive therapy in which people write about their thoughts and feelings relating to traumatic moments and other mental health concerns, has gained popularity because of its enumerated benefits, including reduced stress and improved physical health. 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 is one self-care method counselors can recommend to their clients. Clients can use this tool on their own and incorporate these entries into a therapy session. Counselors refer to journaling in therapy as writing therapy, journal therapy or expressive art therapy. 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. 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. Examples of CBT homework include: Journaling: This includes writing about negative emotions to better process them and identify any thought patterns.
Do therapists recommend journaling?
Journaling is one self-care method counselors can recommend to their clients. Clients can use this tool on their own and incorporate these entries into a therapy session. Counselors refer to journaling in therapy as writing therapy, journal therapy or expressive art therapy. A therapy journal is a place to document your anxieties, reflections and hopes about the therapy journey you are on. It’s a useful tool because when you’re receiving therapy, the most important and valuable work goes on in-between sessions. Journaling is a highly recommended stress-management tool. Journaling can help reduce anxiety, lessen feelings of distress, and increase well-being. 1 It’s not just a simple technique; it’s an enjoyable one as well. 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. 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. Once kids can pick up a pencil or crayon, they can start writing a journal. It doesn’t have to actually be words, it can be pictures, letters, stickers, or cut-and-pasted memorabilia. The goal of writing a journal is to express yourself on paper. This goal doesn’t change whether a child is four or ten.
Why journaling is better than therapy?
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. 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. 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. Part of why journaling is so hard is that it requires time. When we’re busy, it’s hard to spend much time sitting, quietly, writing our thoughts on paper. It’s important to think about what makes journaling fulfilling for you and how you can use journaling as a tool in your daily life to reduce stress, not add to it. Journaling helps keep your brain in tip-top shape. Not only does it boost memory and comprehension, it also increases working memory capacity, which may reflect improved cognitive processing. Journaling helps keep your brain in tip-top shape. Not only does it boost memory and comprehension, it also increases working memory capacity, which may reflect improved cognitive processing.
Can journaling replace therapy?
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 has a range of benefits. Just writing a few minutes a day may help you reduce stress, boost your well-being, and better understand your needs. Journaling provides a concrete method for learning who we are and identifying what we need. A journal and a diary are similar in kind but differ in degree. Both are used to keep personal records, but diaries tend to deal with the day to day, more data collection really, and journals with bigger picture reflection/aspiration. 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. 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.