Journal therapy. also called journal writing therapy or just writing therapy, requires the therapeutic utilization of journaling exercises and prompts to create awareness and improve mental health problems because of inner and outer conflicts. Based on the Center for Journal Therapy, it’s the “the purposeful and intentional utilization of reflective conntacting further mental, physical, emotional. and spiritual overall health .” Even though there are couple of experts who specialize exclusively in journal therapy, many psychotherapists incorporate therapeutic journal writing to their treatment.

What’s the Distinction between Journal Therapy and Keeping a Journal?

Journal therapy originated from the 1960s with psychiatrist Dr. Ira Progoff’s Intensive Journal method. Together with his developments, the therapeutic potential of journal writing moved into public view. Before this, the primary purpose of journal writing ended up being to record occasions and encounters from the narrative perspective. Keeping a diary, though probably advantageous to the author, wasn’t seen a therapeutic process.

Look for a Counselor

Today, journal treatments are considered a stand-alone modalitylike art therapy or music therapy. Journal therapists could be trained through programs authorized by the National Federation for Biblio/Poetry Therapy, or independent programs like Kathleen Adams’s Center for Journal Therapy or Dr. Ira Progoff’s Dialogue House. But individuals who aren’t trained by an authorized journal therapy training course can continue to use journal writing with individuals who arrived at them for therapy. This integration of journal writing into various kinds of psychiatric therapy is known as “therapeutic journal writing.”

One of the leading variations between keeping a journal and journal treatments are the way in which internal encounters, ideas, and feelings are taken. Journal therapy enables someone to write lower, dialogue with, and evaluate their issues and concerns. Therapeutic journal writing and journal therapy use writing prompts and exercises to aid the job of therapy. The practice enables individuals to be reflective, introspective, and intentional regarding their writing.

So How Exactly Does Journal Therapy Work?

Journal treatments are mainly combined with individuals therapy to improve awareness and insight, promote change and growth, and additional develop their feeling of self. Through various writing prompts and activities, a journal counselor will guide an individual in treatment toward their goals. The action of writing things lower frequently relieves tension and may bring clearness to the point at hands.

Although journal writing may be used in limitless ways, there are several general processes that many therapists use. A counselor might ask that the individual in therapy begin each session having a writing exercise to declare their intention for that session in order to sharpen on present concerns. A counselor would use journal writing like a mode of communication between your part of therapy and counselor, benefiting from the additional layer of safety writing provides. Following the session, the counselor may assign the individual in therapy homework that may be processed within the next session.

Many reasons exist why you might like to look for a counselor that utilizes journal writing included in a therapy plan. Psychotherapist and yoga counselor Dr. Lynn Somerstein, RYT. in New You are able to City, stated that they has utilized journal writing techniques with those who have difficulty processing their ideas. Therapists might find similar benefits when utilizing therapeutic journal writing with individuals within their care who’ve trouble tracking their progress, as marriage and family counselor Kathy Hardie-Johnson, NCC, LPC, LMFT. in Tigard, Or, described: “Some have discovered it valuable to help keep journals after which return and browse these to observe how far they’ve progressed.”

Journal therapy and therapeutic journal writing happen to be utilized in treatment for several conditions, including:

Journal Therapy Exercises and Prompts

There are lots of creative and efficient ways in which journal writing can be utilized in treatment. A few of these techniques may be used occasionally, as with therapeutic journal writing, or for the whole treatment, as with journal therapy. A few examples of journal exercises and prompts one might see in therapy include:

• Journaling with Photographs. People choose personal photographs and spend some time within the session writing responses to a number of questions regarding the pictures. Questions can can consist of “What do you experience feeling whenever you take a look at these photos?” or “Give me an idea to state to folks, places, or things during these photos?”
• Letter Writing. An individual in treatments are motivated to create instructions to a person about various issues they’re experiencing. People can pick to create to anybody, including people they are fully aware, areas of themselves, or someone they’ve lost. For instance, a person might write instructions to some deceased parent to inform them what they’re dealing with.
• Timed Journal Records. This is an excellent method to use with individuals who’ve difficulty focusing their ideas. The counselor and part of therapy pick a general subject and so the part of therapy includes a brief allotment of your time, usually 5ten minutes, to create about this.
• Sentence Stems. The counselor provides a number of open-ended sentence stems for that part of therapy to accomplish. For instance, the counselor might suggest, ‘The factor I’m most concerned about is’ or ‘I’ve sleep problems when’ or ‘My most joyful memory is’
• Listing of 100. The counselor asks the individual in therapy to list out 100 products that report to some selected theme or subject. This method will likely increase the risk for repeating certain products or patterns the counselor and individual will review and discuss. Types of list prompts include 100 Stuff that Cause Me To Feel Sad, 100 Good reasons to Awaken each morning, 100 A Few Things I Love, or 100 Things I Wish To Use My Existence.
• Dialogue. Within this technique, the counselor and part of therapy will first choose two positions, parts, or viewpoints inside the part of therapy or from exterior sources. The individual in therapy will write a dialogue between both of these entities. This method can increase awareness in regards to a mental struggle or supply alternative perspectives about this. For instance, the counselor might suggest the individual in therapy create a conversation between their child self and their future self.

Strategies for Therapeutic Journal Writing

Therapeutic journal writing has turned into a popular self-help tool. Furthermore, many therapists assign journal writing prompts for homework. Listed here are some tips about how to include therapeutic journal writing to your self-care routine.

• Be sure that your privacy. Keep the journal materials inside a rut.
• Go back to that which you wrote. Save all you write, when appropriate, and evaluate it frequently. The entire process of returning to that which you wrote can’t only spark inspiration for future writing, but could offer perspective about how far you’ve come.
• Time yourself. Using timed writing exercises will help you avoid author’s block which help you make use of relevant unconscious material.
• Write freely. Hush your inner critic and disregard the urge to edit your projects. Therapeutic journal writing isn’t intended to be pretty or grammatically remedy it is supposed to be genuine.
• Be truthful on your own. Recognition your ideas, feelings, and encounters using the authenticity they deserve. More work will get accomplished when you’re your genuine self inside your writing.

Limitations of Journal Therapy

Although a lot of therapists and individuals in therapy are convinced that journal therapy and therapeutic journal writing work well, there’s a couple of limitations towards the practice. First, journal therapy might not be effective with individuals who experience cognitive or intellectual challenges. Understanding how to read is essential for this kind of therapy. Second, some reports say that covering traumatic encounters may exacerbate signs and symptoms. Third, based on that very same research, not every people report positive progress from dealing with trauma using therapeutic journal writing. Lastly, you should monitor how individuals therapy are answering journal therapy techniques and to look for behavior or emotional signs and symptoms of perseveration, rumination, or obsessive-compulsiveness within their writing. These patterns of behavior can really lead to issues instead of improve them.

Studies Associated with Journal Therapy

Be resourceful belongs to human instinct and journal writing has lengthy been a significant mode of expression and creativeness. Studies have shown the therapeutic effectiveness of journal therapy for mental and physical health. Based on articles within the American Mental Association’s Monitor on Psychology. studies “claim that covering feelings and stress can boost immune functioning in patients with your illnesses as Aids/AIDS, bronchial asthma and joint disease.” In addition, based on researchers in the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and Harvard School Of Medicine, therapeutic journal writing can enhance the physical and mental health in cancer patients. Finally, articles printed in BJPsych Advances claims that journal therapy and therapeutic writing are advantageous for the treatment of severe trauma, body image problems, and grief and loss issues.

1. Adams, K. (1999). A History of Journal Therapy. In Center for Journal Therapy. Retrieved from journaltherapy.com/journal-to-the-self/journal-writing-history
2. Baikie, K. A. Wilhelm, K. (2010). Physical and emotional health advantages of significant writing. BJPsych Advances. 11(5). doi:10.1192/apt.11.5.338
3. Camilleri, V. A. (2007). Healing the interior City Child. London, England: Jessica Kingsley Publishers.
4. Significant Writing Therapy. (2007). In American Holistic Health Association. Retrieved from ahha.org/ExpressiveWriting.htm
5. Journal Writing: A Brief Course. (n.d.). In Center for Journal Therapy. Retrieved from journaltherapy.com/journal-coffee shop-3/journal-course
6. Murray, B. (2002, June). Conntacting heal. Monitor on Psychology. 33(6), 54. Retrieved from world wide web.apa.org/monitor/jun02/writing.aspx
7. Thompson, K. (2010). Therapeutic Journal Writing: An Intro for Professionals. London, England: Jessica Kingsley Publishers.

Last updated: 03-08-2016