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Write to Heal: The Transformative Power of Journaling

Journaling is commonly viewed as a method of record-keeping, where one consistently writes down thoughts, feelings, experiences, and reflections. However, beyond its role in documentation, journaling offers specific mental health benefits. Many therapists including myself recommend maintaining a journal as a valuable non-pharmacological tool. Journaling can complement traditional talk therapy, enhancing self-expression, healing, and communication. While therapy is sometimes seen as a “talking cure”, journaling is believed to be a “writing cure”. Shukla and colleagues (2022) note that journaling helps individuals express themselves more freely and improves interpersonal relationships.

Journaling can be effective in addressing various mental health issues, such as depression, anxiety, trauma, and work-related stress. Therapists often employ two primary types of journaling: expressive writing and gratitude journaling.

Expressive Writing involves reflecting on thoughts and feelings, sometimes through dialoguing between parts of the self, mind mapping, or writing letters to oneself or others. This form of journaling helps individuals process their emotions and gain insight into their inner experiences.

Gratitude Journaling, rooted in positive psychology, focuses on acknowledging and appreciating the positive aspects of life. It encourages individuals to record things they are grateful for, fostering a mindset that highlights strengths and resources.

Both journaling types serve to release negative emotions, recognize positive thoughts, and monitor emotional states. Most importantly, journals serve as a reminder that we are always entitled to a safe, private space where we can express ourselves in ways that we often cannot in front of others. The nature of journaling is to allow clients to have a space where they do not have to police their thoughts and feelings. While therapy serves as a safe space to be candid with another human without fearing judgment and criticism, many clients often struggle with accepting their thoughts and feelings. Writing them down without the anticipation of being judged/perceived can be introspective and healing.

Here are some ways I use journaling in my work with clients.

Journaling for Depression

When dealing with depression, journaling can support self-esteem, assess one's support system, and track achievements despite low motivation. Those who have depression can often feel many negative emotions like frustration and anger towards themselves and creative prompts can help individuals distance themselves from negative emotions and gain perspective. For instance, a prompt like “What emotion is most prevalent today, and where in your body do you most feel it?” can be illuminating. Gratitude journaling can help clients take note of the silver linings of the proverbial dark, depressing clouds and remind them of the support and resources they can lean on when the going gets hard. At times, your journal entry can simply be a short to-do list you managed you achieve after weeks of low motivation!

Helpful prompts for depression include:

• Imagine yourself before you start feeling depressed. What was your life like? What did you think, feel, or do differently? Write a letter from that person to your current self.
• If this feeling (hopelessness/anger/sadness) could talk, what would it say?
• What are three things you want to remember when days feel hard?

Journaling for Anxiety

Anxiety can be overwhelming, with constant fight-or-flight responses and persistent racing thoughts. Some individuals with anxiety tend to “overthink” events before they happen or pick apart a social interaction in retrospect. Journaling can act as a “mirror” for these thoughts, helping to identify patterns and apply coping strategies. A “brain dump” of anxious thoughts and feelings can be cathartic. Prompts like “What would I do if I knew I could not fail?” or visual prompts like “What is a beautiful place I would like to visit right now?” can offer relief and perspective.

Journaling for Trauma

I have found Susan Borkin’s book “The Healing Power of Writing: A Therapist’s^[a] Guide to Using Journaling with Clients” a helpful resource in learning to work journaling into my treatment plans. Borkin highlights the Pennebaker experiments, which found that writing about personal trauma in-depth resulted in significant positive physical effects compared to factual/superficial writing. Writing about trauma using “I” statements to make sense of experiences can contribute to understanding and healing. Be aware that having professional support while you process something particularly intense is wise.

(Here is a podcast episode featuring renowned Dr. Pennebaker as he explains his writing protocol. You can also learn about his research and learn to use the Pennebaker Writing Protocol here)

Journaling can seem daunting and time-consuming, but it doesn’t have to be! I am a huge proponent of using a single notebook/digital space for all types of journaling—whether writing, to-do lists, sketches, or art journaling. It can simplify the process of what “belongs” in a journal. Start with just five to ten minutes a day or whenever you feel emotionally dysregulated. With practice, journaling can significantly enhance physical, emotional, and spiritual well-being, ultimately improving overall quality of life.

In conclusion, while journaling can be a valuable tool in therapy, it's important to recognize that it may not suit everyone. Ultimately, therapy should embrace a holistic approach, with journaling being one component of a broader healing journey.

First Draft

Journaling is often seen as a form of record-keeping; it is a consistent practice of writing down your thoughts, feelings, experiences, and reflections. However, journaling has shown to have specific benefits for mental health. Many therapists encourage clients to main journals because it can serve as a valuable non-pharmacological tool. Some believe journaling to be a way to harness the “writing cure” and when used in conjunction with traditional talk therapy, it has shown increases in self-expression, healing, and communication. Shukla and colleagues (2022) write that it helps express individuals more freely and improves interpersonal relationships.

Journaling can be used to treat a variety of mental issues like depression, anxiety, trauma, and work stress. There are two common types of journaling most therapists use in their work: expressive writing and gratitude journaling. Expressive journaling is often about putting down thoughts, feelings and reflecting on them but at times, it can look like dialoguing between parts of the self, mind mapping, or writing letters to yourself/others. On the other hand, gratitude journaling popularized by an area called positive psychology which focuses on strengths and resources, is an account of things one is grateful for.

Both types of journaling can help focus on releasing negative feelings and thoughts, acknowledging positive thoughts and monitoring emotional states. Most importantly, journals serve as a reminder that we are always entitled to a safe, private space where we can express ourselves in ways that we often cannot in front of others. The nature of journaling is to allow clients to have a space where they do not have to police their thoughts and feelings. While therapy serves as safe space to be candid with another being without fearing judgment and criticism, many clients often struggle with accepting their own thoughts and feelings. Writing them down without the anticipation of being judged/perceived can be introspective and healing.

Here are some ways I use journaling in my work with clients.

Journaling for Depression

Journaling when experiencing depression can help with low self-esteem, taking stock of our support system, and recounting goals and tasks that you managed to achieve despite low motivation. Those who have depression can often feel many negative emotions like frustration and anger towards themselves, and being able to use creative journaling prompts can help them gain some distance from their symptoms in order to process those emotions. For example, I might provide a prompt like “what emotion is most prevalent today and where in your body do  you most feel it?”. Gratitude journaling can help clients take note of the silver linings of the proverbial dark, depressing clouds and remind them of their support and resources they can lean on when the going gets hard. At times, your journal entry can simply be a short to-do list you managed you achieve after weeks of low motivation!

Some other prompts that may be helpful if you experience depressive symptoms:

• Imagine yourself before you started feeling depressed. What was your life like? What did you think, feel, or do differently? Write a letter from that person to your depressed self.
• If this feeling (hopelessness/anger/sadness) could talk, what would it say?
• What are three things you want to remember when days feel hard?

Journaling for Anxiety

Anxiety can feel quite debilitating for those who experience it. Those with anxiety constantly feel like they are in fight or flight mode and can have a hard time breaking themselves out of the cycle of racing thoughts and bodily symptoms of sweating, stomach in knots, and their racing heartbeat. Many with anxiety tend to “overthink” events before they happen or pick apart a social interaction in retrospect. In some ways, journaling can act as a “mirror” for your thoughts and help identify patterns, downward spirals, and when coping skills can be utilized more.

A “brain dump” of all your anxious thoughts and feelings can prove to be cathartic as much as prompts like “what would I do if I knew I would not fail?” or visual prompts like “what is a beautiful place I would like to go to right now as I am feeling anxious?”

Journaling for Trauma

I have found Susan Borkin’s book “The Healing Power of Writing: A Therapist’s Guide to Using Journaling with Clients” a helpful resource in learning to work journaling into my treatment plans with clients. The author writes of the landmark Pennbaker experiments on positive physical effects of venting being significant when study participants wrote about personal trauma in an in-depth and expressive manner than those who wrote of their trauma in a more factual and superficial nature. Those who delved into their experiences in depth (especially previously undisclosed trauma) saw changes in their immune system which is responsible for healthy functioning and protecting the body from disease.

Trauma can be very difficult to disclose even in therapy. Recounting trauma can come with unwanted memories, thoughts, and feelings for victims and survivors who have to vicariously experience it over and over again. However, writing about trauma using “I” statements to make sense of it  (“because/realized/understood”) and use that interpretation to contribute to your life’s larger narrative has shown to be helpful. However, be aware that having professional support while you process something particularly intense is wise.

Journaling can feel intimidating and time-consuming, but it does not have to be! I am a huge proponent of using one place/book to write down journal entries, to-do’s, sketch art, and even art journal. That way, it feels less laborious to think of what “belongs” and does not belong in your journal. Journaling does not have to take hours! Start with five to ten minutes a day or even when you are feeling emotionally dysregulated. While it can take a bit of practice and time to get a hang of using journaling to support wellbeing, it has shown significant benefits for overall physical, emotional, and spiritual wellbeing, and can serve to boost one’s quality of life.