Benefits of Journaling for Depression
For years, people have been telling you about journaling. Your friends, your family and even your therapist have commented on the power of expressing your thoughts, feelings and beliefs in a concrete way. After all, your depression has been a difficult beast to tame. The best therapy, medications and positive, social supports never seem to be enough to resolve your symptoms of depression.
Journaling never seemed like a good fit for you, though. You know because you have tried it multiple times. Usually, you would sit down, stare at a blank page and search fruitlessly for something to write. Maybe you did write, but the process only seemed to make your depression worse, since it brought up many negative feelings that you were hoping to forget. Or, maybe journaling did help, but you could never find the time or motivation to keep at it.
No matter what scenario fits you most accurately, it might be a good time to reconsider journaling. By understanding the benefits of journaling, finding new ways to journal and placing increased focus on consistency, you can finally achieve the journaling success you have heard so much about. This time will be different. This time you can ensure that the trip to the store to buy the journal is not the majority of your journaling time.
Benefits of Journaling
Hopefully, the people that have been try to convince you to journal have been making an argument better than saying, “Journaling is good for you.” Although that is true, the benefits are far-reaching and more tangible than that overly simplistic statement. Here are some of the things journaling can do for you:
- Allows you to express yourself. Have you ever felt like you have so many thoughts and feelings spinning through your mind that your head was going to explode? If yes, journaling can help. Journaling gives you the opportunity to blow off steam in a safe, productive way. This ability to “get it all out” will free up room so that you can accept new information and feelings without being entirely overwhelmed.
