Therapeutic Journaling
What Is Therapeutic Journaling?
Therapeutic journaling involves writing about your thoughts and feelings to better understand personal experiences. Unlike a traditional diary, which records daily events, therapeutic journaling focuses on emotions, reactions, and perspectives related to difficult or traumatic events. It helps you process and reflect on these experiences more deeply, finding new angles and insights into your own experience.
The Therapeutic Writing Protocol
You can use therapeutic journaling to explore emotions like anger, grief, or anxiety from daily events or to address specific stressful or traumatic experiences. A well-known method by Dr. James Pennebaker involves writing about a challenging or emotional event for 15-20 minutes a day over four days. This approach has been shown to improve both physical and mental health and works alone or alongside therapy.
How It Works
Writing about difficult emotions can boost your health by improving immune function. When traumatic events aren’t fully processed, they can stay stuck in your memory. Journaling helps release these emotions, enabling you to move forward.
Research
Over the past 25 years, a growing body of research has demonstrated the beneficial effects that writing about traumatic or stressful events has on physical and emotional health. Dr.
Pennebaker, one of the first researchers in this area, found that writing about emotionally difficult events or feelings for just 20 minutes at a time over four consecutive days was
associated with both short-term increases in physiological arousal and long-term decreases in in health problems, such as immune system functioning. Further information on the clinical studies: Here
Who Can Benefit from Therapeutic Journaling
Expressive writing has been found to produce significant benefits for individuals with a variety of conditions including:
• Lung functioning in asthma
• Disease severity in rheumatoid arthritis
• Pain and physical health in cancer
• Immune response in HIV infection
• Hospitalizations for cystic fibrosis
• Pain intensity in women with chronic pelvic pain
• Sleep-onset latency in poor sleepers
• Post-operative course
In addition, it can be helpful for assistance with specific life circumstances, including:
• Break-up with life partner
• Death of loved one
• Unemployment
• Natural disaster
• General stressful events
Therapeutic Journaling Instructions
The program is a structured four-day writing intervention that has demonstrated efficacy in enhancing both mental and physical health. To optimize the experience, it is advisable to select a meaningful environment, time, and atmosphere for your writing sessions. Identify a location where you can remain free from interruptions, such as those caused by others, electronic devices, or digital communications.
Prior to beginning, carefully consider the topic you wish to explore. It is recommended to focus on an emotionally upsetting event that continues to trouble you. However, if you have recently experienced a significant trauma, it is prudent to delay writing about it for several weeks to avoid overwhelming emotional responses that may be difficult to process. Trust the natural progression of your writing; while you may begin by addressing a traumatic event, you might find your thoughts shifting toward other topics as the process unfolds.
Over the next four days, dedicate your writing to an emotionally significant or traumatic event that has had a profound impact on you. As you write, delve deeply into your thoughts and emotions regarding this experience. You are encouraged to explore how this event intersects with your relationships, whether past, present, or future. Additionally, you may connect your reflections to your evolving sense of self—who you were, who you aspire to be, or who you are at present. Each writing session may focus on the same general themes or experiences, or you may choose to explore different topics on each day, depending on where your reflections lead you.
Keep in mind these few simple guidelines recommended by Pennebaker:
Writing topic. You can write about the same event all four days or different events each day. What you choose to write about should be something that is extremely personal and important for you.
Length and frequency. Write for 15-20 minutes each day for four consecutive days if you can. It is a bit more effective than writing four days over the course of several weeks.
Write continuously. Once you begin writing, write continuously without stopping.
Don’t worry about spelling or grammar. If you run out of things to say, simply repeat what you have already
written.
Keep writing about the topic until the time is up. Write only for yourself. You are writing for yourself and no one else. After you complete the
expressive writing exercise, you may want to destroy or hide what you have written. Remember this writing can be for your eyes only.
What to avoid. If you feel that you cannot write about a particular event because it would be too upsetting, then don’t write about it. Just write about events or situations that you can handle now.
What to expect. It is common for people to feel somewhat saddened or depressed after writing, especially on the first day or two. Know that this is completely normal, if this happens to you. Typically, the feeling usually lasts just a few minutes or a few hours. It is a good idea to plan some time to yourself after your writing session to reflect on the issues you have been writing about and support yourself in any emotions that come up.
Considerations. Writing about the same topic day after day for too many days is not helpful. If, after several sessions, you feel you are not making progress, then you might need to stop and contact a health care practitioner.
When to discontinue the journaling exercise. Writing exercises aren’t for everyone. If the writing exercise evokes strong feelings that you cannot cope with, stop immediately and do something soothing for yourself. Experiencing symptoms of hypervigilance, stress or distress are signals to discontinue this journaling exercise immediately. Take care of yourself by doing something like practice diaphragmatic breathing, reach out to a friend or loved one, or go for a walk to center and calm yourself. If you experience lingering negative feelings, you might benefit some additional help. It is recommended to seek the professional advice of a psychologist, counselor, or physician to discuss these feelings and experiences.
References: “Therapeutic Journaling” was adapted for the University of Wisconsin Integrative Health Program from the original written by Shilagh A. Mirgain, PhD and by Janice Singles, PsyD (2016). and Here
Editor: Móni Kálmán Testmunka Műhely és Integratív Terápiás Tér