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In elementary school, kids are often taught to write about their problems and deepest secrets in journals. As we grow older, though, these diaries get discarded in piles of “childish” things, along with hordes of Beanie Babies, LEGO blocks, and Pokemon cards. It’s a real shame. As a licensed clinical social worker, I’ve seen firsthand how journaling benefits your mental health.
The science is clear. Australian researchers looked at several studies during which people wrote about “traumatic, stressful, or emotional events” for 15-20 minutes over three to five occasions. The effects were astonishing. People who were journaling noted serious benefits to their mood. More satisfaction. Less anxiety. Better working memory. Interestingly, journaling even brought physical benefits. These participants reported having lower blood pressure, fewer days in the hospital, and less doctor’s visits.
Any ongoing readers of Mind and Prose probably could’ve predicted this. In this post, I reviewed all the ways stress affects the body. If journaling reduces stress, then it also means better physical and mental health.
I can vouch for this practice, too. I’ve run journaling groups in the past and found them to be really helpful for my clients. I also regularly incorporate journaling into my therapy sessions with clients. Read on to know why journaling carries so many mental health benefits.
One of the Most Important Benefits of Journaling is Simply Having the Space to Express Yourself
Humor me with a thought experiment. Imagine that you get an email in your inbox. You click on it and read that you’ve just been offered your dream job. Yes! A flood of emotions hit. You’ve worked so hard for this moment. You pick up the phone to call your best friend, but remember they were just laid off. They’ve been having a hard time, and this good news might put them in a tailspin, you reason. You decide to hold onto the information. How might that make you feel?
Another example. You walk out of the doctor’s office, the test results in your hand. Cancer. Stage 4. I hope this never happens to you, but think through this scenario for a moment. What would you do first? For many people, they’d probably pick up their phone and call a loved one. How would that feel if you didn’t?
It’s not healthy keeping things bottled up. That burden creates incredible stress. Generally speaking, talking out what’s bothering us is super helpful. On the other hand, think back to that friend in the first example that we couldn’t tell. Now, the fact that we couldn’t tell that friend might be debatable, but it is true that sometimes there are things we can’t tell other people. That may be because it’d affect the relationship in some way, or perhaps because we don’t feel ready to say it ourselves.
One of the most important journaling benefits is that it offers a safe way to express ourselves. That’s why so many therapists recommend it. Many people even use it as part of their nightly routine to help them relax or sleep. When dealing with sweeping emotions, sometimes the best way to cope is by letting it spill out over the page rather than trying to hold it back.
Consider Other Perspectives
Being able to return to old journal entries is another benefit. I encourage everybody to read their past entries from time to time. Coming in with a different headspace is a surreal experience. It can sometimes feel like you’re peeking into somebody else’s innermost thoughts.
We change from moment to moment. When you look back at old entries gives you perspective about your life that you wouldn’t otherwise have. As the problems of yesteryear fade into memory, they take a different color. Maybe something that once bothered you now seems trivial. Or maybe even funny. You may not realize how much you’ve grown without checking back with your past mindset. On the other hand, you may be surprised to find that you were more insightful than you’d given yourself credit for.
Journaling is an Easy Way to Track Your Growth
Journal entries are like anthropological treasures, chronicling the evolution of you.
Keeping track of progress helps more than you might think. When one feels badly, they might lose perspective about how they clawed out of previous blue periods. On the other hand, a person might undersell the importance of an achievement, forgetting completely how hard they’d worked. Appreciating growth is essential for continuing it.
However, remembering where you’ve been is difficult. Study after study shows that people generally struggle to articulate how their thoughts or feelings change over time. Others can help with this, reminding us of what they’ve seen. Even that is not perfect, though, as their own memories are fallible. Stress also weakens our memory and focus, so it’s not uncommon to find ourselves in an upsetting situation without any idea how we got there.
By preserving our journal entries, we are maintaining a detailed database of information on our lives and how we felt when we put pen to paper. Use that information to better appreciate your journey.
It’s Good Practice at Sharing with Others
Let’s circle back to our earlier example with learning terrible medical news. There is real power in expressing oneself and releasing all that we hold inside. However, sharing our thoughts and feelings has an additional perk: it sets up other people to let us know we need help.
Have you heard of a phenomenon called the spotlight effect? The idea is that people tend to think we are being noticed more than they actually are. Teenagers go through this all the time, fussing over clothes, makeup, and acne that they just know everybody else must see. Yet they’re the only ones who care! In my experience, people walk around consumed with their own dreams and fears, too distracted to care about some teenager’s pimple.
One of the best ways to get emotional support is to share what’s going on. People really may not know. Journaling offers a practice run at sharing. You may not want to share your journal entries with others. Sure, it can be empowering or relieving to read aloud an entry, but for this practice to survive as a healthy coping skill, it must be preserved as a sacred space. The page should be safe from any worries of judgment. Still, writing is a nice trial run to practice telling others about problems that feel enormous.
In the spirit of safety, please be choosy with who you share sensitive information with. Some people in this world that may misuse our stories, or are just unable to absorb them well. Identify one to two people you feel you can trust. However, if there’s nobody like that in your life, consider expanding your social circle, or going into therapy to find ways to improve your relationships. Your thoughts and feelings are gifts. Be careful who you bestow them on.
Let Loose and Enjoy the Many Benefits of Journaling
Journaling is unlikely to be the all-in-one solution to your problems. It doesn’t replace more formalized types of treatment, like psychotherapy or medication. I still highly recommend talking to a professional to find the best plan to help you. Writing may help you feel better and get more clarity, but it doesn’t change the situation in and of itself.
Finally, in some cases, journaling might be counterproductive. For people who are dealing with hallucinations or delusions, writing too much about the content of these may inadvertently trigger more psychotic symptoms. People who have experienced trauma should also be mindful of how their writing is affecting them. If somebody is reliving traumatic events regularly—whether it be through flashbacks, nightmares, or just never-ending cycles of thoughts—may fall into the trap of triggering themselves and getting stuck. That said, I’ve worked with people with psychosis and/or trauma who have used the reflective space in journaling to incredible effect.
There is no such thing as a one-size-fits-all treatment. Nonetheless, in my experience, journaling has been extremely helpful for most folks I’ve worked with.
Are you thinking of bringing journaling into your self-care routine, or are you already a journaling pro? If you have any thoughts or questions on all this, please comment below.
