Skip to main content

The PsychCafe
Share, connect, and learn.
15 replies

Journal Questions

True NorthTrue NorthCo-moderator
I just happened to be talking to a friend about journaling tonight and lo and behold I find this on the Psychology Today site about the benefits of journaling.

I have journaled almost every session with oldT. I have over 500 typewritten single spaced pages of journal. I found many benefits to journaling, some of which are mentioned in the link here. I think it's a very good way to see your progress and to work out and process what happens in session, keeping it fresh in your mind and it helps in discovering insights and connecting the here and now to the past and in recognizing patterns. For me, now, reading the journal about oldT also has some beautiful memories, athought still painful ones. I'm really glad I have this journal of my journey with him.

I had resisted starting a new journal for my therapy with my current T and I decided that it needed to be done so I went through my old posts about my sessions with him from day one and I put together my journal that I will continue as my therapy goes on with him. I can already see my progress and I laugh at some of the things I said to him in those first weeks.

So, I'm asking here... how many of you journal? How do you journal? I type mine in word documents, split into years (3 for old T). Do you find it helpful?

Here's the link:

http://www.psychologytoday.com...ournaling-in-therapy

TN
Last edited {1}
Original Post

Replies sorted oldest to newest

Q quilterMember
I have been journaling since I started therapy and I find it really helpful. I, too, type my entries because I am a fast typer and I think it is easier to get things down this way. But then I print them and put them in a notebook (which I hide!). I journal when I am really stressed out or have a lot going on. I also definitely journal the most after each therapy session. I write everything that we talked about and how I feel. After every session I just have so much floating about in my head that I have to get it down on paper.
puppetpuppetMember
... interesting thread and i'll have to read the article properly when I have more time.

i have been journaling for a while now, before i started therapy, it began as my first attempts at trying to figure out what was going on with me. for me, its mostly talking to myself, trying to work out inner conflicts or just expressing what i'm feeling, i do a combination of writing or drawing - mostly doodling Wink i sometimes write down some valuable things that happened in therapy but not in an organised structured way.

whenever i move house, i pack about 10 years worth of journals, drawings, notes etc in suitcases and almost feel like labeling it my 'emotional baggage' Smiler

puppet
pandorapandoraMember
I didn't journal as such but wrote short stories about what was going on for me in therapy and my T became one of the characters, which follow through in all the stories.

I always gave them to my T to read and he loved them, it is how we actually did therapy. I would tease him about things in the stories and he always let me know that he got it.

Eeek, this is making me realise how much i miss him...
A suddenly morbid Pan
True NorthTrue NorthCo-moderator
So sorry Pandy for making you feel so sad about your T. I think you were very brave to allow him to read your stories. I wrote... or started a story about my oldT. I do that when I'm trying to work feelings out in my head and although it started out well I never finished it. Maybe because I never wanted there to be an ending. I guess I have my ending now, though. He knew I would write stories but I never told him that he was the main character in one of them. He probably would have freaked!

Thanks for sharing. I hope you feel better soon. Sending you hugs.

TN
pandorapandoraMember
Don't feel at all bad it is that kind of lovely ache for something good so it is not unpleasant and i decided to phone him on monday for a touching base session. So you see it really was a good thing. Smiler

I found that so sad that you didn't want there to be an ending with your T. (((TN)))) My stories are the never ending THE END, each story has a THE END but it never is, quite a clever trick, don't you think? Big Grin

And i love the Pandy, i think i am going to use it.
Love
Pandy
True NorthTrue NorthCo-moderator
Monte you are always so eloquent I'm sure your T enjoyed reading what you wrote as it enabled him to get closer to who you really are and the pain and suffering you struggle with. I think you allowed him through your writing to get a real sense of who you are.

I used to write the occassional long, rambling email to oldT pouring out my fears and frustrations but basically I didn't get much back from him and those emails felt like they just hung out there in cyber space. Sort of makes me sad now because I wonder what he really thought of what I wrote and of me too.

Thanks everyone for sharing your thoughts on this topic.

TN
russrussMember
Hi TN,

I'm not much of a journaler. I've done some, but not much. When I do it, I never seem to get around to re-reading it. I guess I have this fear - and I know this sounds really dumb and negative - that I'll write my thoughts down, re-read them but it won't help any and it will just increase my feeling that nothing will help me. I know, talk about learned helplessness.

However, I do write down my dreams and talk about them often in therapy. Even when my dreams are really awful or totally baffling and leave me feeling terrible, I love them. They seem to be a kind of window into my internal conflicts. In fact, I had a dream last night that was a near perfect "movie" of my conflicted feelings and fears about relationships.

So, while I don't journal much, I do in a sense in that I write down my dreams at least a few times a week.

BTW, I keep all my dream notes in Google docs so I can access them from anywhere and they're secure.

Russ
J jillMember
i used to journal...like a rabied dog...frantic...all the time.

haven't in a long time. now, i write out here in the forum mostly.

i do think writing is restorative, and often, beautiful.

seems analysis is like writing, not so fact oriented. so i free associate to an audience as opposed to the journaling i used to do. also, back then, i only went to t once a week, so there were alot of thoughts that needed contained.

too, i really could flood myself. it helps to have someone there for me, to monitor the flow. jill
S sadlyMember
I journalled with all of my previous therapists but burnt them all in 2006 (long story and I really regret it as they could truly help me now)

when my ex C started holding me in June, the dramatic change in me and my interior awareness was so dramatic that I wrote it out as a story and that is how my blog started.

EMDR T asked me in December to write a journal and I resisted but did because she kept asking me to. I now find I write my deepest most secret things in that and really allow myself to write openly whereas there are quite a few things that I could not write about in my blog, even though I am very open there.

I find it gives me time to reflect and ponder what happened in a session and also to ponder and see connections in what is going on inside of me.

I often go to bed and sit propped up on pillows and write my journal with a cuppa. I sometimes sit on a comfy armchair in my living room and also occasionally sit in a coffee shop and drink cappaccino whilst scribbling my thoughts away.

thank you for asking this question TN

Add Reply

Post

Membership Required

We're sorry. You must be signed in to continue. Sign In or Register
×
Are you sure you want to remove from your Block List?
×
Loading...
×
When you block a person, they can no longer invite you to a private message or post to your profile wall. Replies and comments they make will be collapsed/hidden by default. Finally, you'll never receive email notifications about content they create or likes they designate for your content.
Note: if you proceed, you will no longer be following .
×
Advanced Search
Advanced Search
Link copied to your clipboard.
×

Access to this requires a premium membership.

Be a Patron Member

Get psychotherapy help to make your therapy easier and better.



Yes, I've learned about all the benefits of being a Patron Member (Click here if you missed seeing them: Community Psychotherapy Help

Yes, I understand that...

1. I can do a 7 day free trial and my credit card will not be charged until that period is up.

2. I can cancel at any time before then and my card will not be charged.

3. That once my credit card is charged, there is no refund offered.

Have a special coupon?

4. If I'm using a coupon my receipt won't show the discounted amount (It'll show $7.95). However, I understand that it will go through as $2.95 when I am billed after the 7 day trial. (According to the current promotion, this discount applies to the first three months of my membership - and as long as I use the coupon in the checkout.)*

*Please note that after the 3 months, billing will revert to the regular monthly fee.
**The fee posted below is our standard billing fee (ie. using no coupon).

7-Day Free Trial, then $7.95 per Month (plus tax if applicable)
×