Keeping a Therapy Journal

Many often dwell on the misconception that keeping a diary or writing a journal is only meant for girls in their teenage years. While many girls indeed turn to write memoirs and logs in the attempt to understand themselves during these years, it is not only girls that can benefit from keeping therapy journals. Journals can be kept by just about anyone and can be a helpful way to vent your thoughts and feelings in a healthy manor.

Effective journaling can benefit you regardless of your gender or age. It can help you improve the quality of your life by getting you closer to your goals. Journaling enables you to achieve your goals by clearing your head and helping you make a connection between your feelings, thoughts, and behaviours. Journaling is especially beneficial to individuals struggling with depression and other mental disorders. Take a look at the following advantages of keeping a therapy journal.

Self-introspection

Writing a journal helps you to understand your feelings and views of the different aspects of your life. It enables you to shed out toxic emotions and gives you clarity on the next steps to take according to the situation you are in. You can express feelings and emotions that you otherwise cannot tell anyone else. Your journal plays the role of your confidant.

Keep track of your behaviours and progress.

Consciously looking back over your journals helps you to notice behavioural patterns in all the aspects of your life. You will see the changes you need to make for you to achieve progress in your career, health, and relationships with others.

Set short and long-term targets

As mentioned above, a journal helps you to look at yourself from a spectator’s point of view. It helps you to find out the aspects of your life that need improvement. Therefore, you can easily set goals of the things you want to do soon and decide on the strategies you will use to achieve them. Because of your journal, you can also keep yourself on track by checking every milestone that you go through towards your goal.

Boosts your health

Research shows that keeping a therapy journal boosts your mood and reduces stress. Stress has detrimental effects on your mental and physical health. Journaling also boosts your immunity and helps your body prevent and fight off several diseases.

Apart from boosting emotional health, journaling also helps to strengthen memory and cognitive ability.