Journaling for Therapy and Mental Health: Benefits, Techniques, and 10 Prompts to Use

Therapy gives you a chance to talk about your emotions, thoughts, and experiences. But it’s not the only way to explore these aspects of your mental well-being — writing in a journal can also be a helpful tool. Research shows that journaling may have beneficial effects for those with depression, anxiety, and other mental health concerns. 

How can you get the most out of journaling, and what benefits does it provide? In the following sections, we’ll go over several benefits and journaling techniques — and even give you some prompts to try!

The benefits of journaling for therapy and mental health 

Keeping a journal lets you put your thoughts down on paper to help clear your mind. But that’s just one of the many benefits journaling offers. It may also help you achieve your therapy goals and boost your mental wellness overall. In fact, it’s a recommended exercise in cognitive behavioral therapy.

Below, we’ll take a closer look at the benefits of journaling for both mental health and therapy. 

Practicing self-reflection and cultivating awareness

As you write about your thoughts, feelings, and experiences, you engage in self-reflection. This helps you become more aware of your emotions, thought patterns, and behaviors — giving you insight into these aspects of your mind for personal growth. 

Identifying negative thoughts and emotions 

You may not be aware of the negative feelings and thoughts you have. These can become so habitual that you routinely have them without realizing it. But these negative emotions and thoughts may affect your mental well-being and worsen struggles with depression, anxiety, or other mental health challenges. 

Journaling may help you recognize and document these maladaptive thoughts and emotions, making it easier for you to address them. 

Expressing your thoughts and feelings 

It’s not always easy or comfortable to talk about what you’re thinking or feeling. Writing in a journal lets you express your thoughts and emotions — without having to share them with another person. 

Expressing these feelings and thoughts may help you learn more about yourself as you work toward your mental health and self-improvement goals. 

Pattern recognition and tracking progress 

You might not realize that certain behaviors can end up turning into behavioral patterns. Likewise, emotions can also form emotional patterns that repeat over and over — and affect your mental wellness. 

Journaling over time gives you a chance to identify emotional and/or behavioral patterns. Once you recognize them, you’ll be one step closer to addressing them and making adaptive changes. 

Writing in a journal can also help you track your personal progress in therapy. You can look back on earlier journal entries to see how far you’ve come toward achieving your goals. 

Enhancing communication in therapy 

If you struggle to figure out what to discuss in therapy, journaling can help you clarify what you want to talk about with your therapist.

Writing in a journal can help you identify the most pressing issues you want to tackle during therapy. Plus, having them written down can serve as a good reminder to bring them up at your next therapy session. 

Mental health journaling techniques to try 

Journaling goes beyond simply writing down your thoughts and feelings. Different journaling techniques can give you a specific angle or approach to focus on. Trying one or more of these can help you get the most out of keeping a journal. You might also find that certain techniques are more beneficial for you than others. 

Gratitude journaling 

Gratitude journaling involves recording or making a list of things that you’re thankful for. It’s easy to overlook these things in your daily life. But writing them down may help you become more aware of just how much you have to be thankful for and shift your focus to positive experiences and thoughts. 

Reflective journaling 

Reflective journaling involves analyzing your thoughts and feelings about a specific event or experience. This self-reflection may help you gain deeper insights into what happened and how it has affected your life and well-being. 

For example, you might write about not getting a promotion at work or having an argument with a loved one recently. You can then focus on how this experience made you feel or what you think about it. 

Intuition journaling 

You’ve probably heard the phrase “trust your gut” — and that’s the idea behind intuition journaling for mental health. This technique involves writing down your gut feelings and immediate reactions to a situation. 

As a result, you might find that you tend to overreact to certain situations in the moment, or just the opposite — it may give you more confidence to trust your instincts. 

Visual journaling 

You don’t necessarily have to use written words for journaling. If you enjoy putting your artistic or creative skills to use, give visual journaling or art journaling a try. This involves expressing thoughts and emotions through doodles, drawings, or collages that combine words and imagery.  

Mentor journaling 

This type of journaling involves writing as though you’re getting advice and guidance from a trusted role model or mentor — no actual mentor required. Doing this can help guide your actions and thoughts, giving you inspiration and encouragement to work toward your therapy and mental health goals.

Unsent letter journaling 

If you’re struggling with the loss of a loved one or having conflicting or unresolved feelings about someone in your life, you may benefit from unsent letter journaling. Writing letters to these individuals — without actually sending them — can be a powerful tool to gain closure or explore unresolved feelings. Unsent letter journaling may also help with emotional release, paving the way toward healing. 

Stream-of-consciousness journaling 

You don’t have to carefully think about what you want to write with this technique. Stream-of-consciousness journaling involves free writing without using any structure or judgment. 

You simply let your thoughts flow naturally while writing them down, without any censorship. This can help you gain new insights or identify issues you’re struggling with.   

10 journal prompts for therapy and mental health 

1. What are you noticing about yourself this week? Think about how you’ve been feeling and whether or not you’ve noticed any changes in your thoughts, emotions, or behaviors. 
2. What would you wish for if you had three wishes? Thinking about this can help you discover what’s most important to you or what your goals are. 
3. Record your dreams (keep your journal by your bed so you can write them down while they're fresh). Writing down what you dream about can be a surprising source of insights into your thoughts and feelings. 
4. What are your worries? Writing down what you’re worried about can help you identify your main concerns or stressors and work on ways to address them. You might find that some worries are unfounded or that you can take practical steps to handle your concerns. 
5. What are three things you’re grateful for? Again, it’s easy to overlook these things or take them for granted. Taking time to write them down can help you appreciate them and shift your mindset to a more positive state.
6. What are three things you’d like to do (your goals)? Think about what you want to accomplish in any area of your life — mental health, relationships, career, etc. This can help you with setting goals — and getting started working on them. 
7. What are your top three strengths? Write down what you’re good at, such as problem-solving or being able to adapt to different situations. Depending on what you’re struggling with, you might be able to use these strengths to help you manage anxiety, depression, or stress and work toward your mental health goals.
8. What are you feeling and thinking at the very moment you're writing? This is a good prompt to use for stream-of-consciousness journaling or intuition journaling. Don’t stop to process or reflect on your emotions and thoughts — just write them down in the moment. 
9. How will you practice self-care this week? Self-care can look different for everyone. Examples of self-care include getting 7–8 hours of sleep a night, eating whole foods and plenty of vegetables, staying active, planning alone time when you need it, doing activities you enjoy, practicing appreciation, doing yoga or meditation, and more. 
10. Write a goodbye letter to your inner critic. Consider answering the below prompts to help express and release your feelings:
    • If this feeling was a color, it would be…
    • If this feeling was music, it would sound like…

Tips for getting the most out of journaling 

Writing in a journal may help you in many ways — but how can you make the most of it? Let’s go over some tips that can help make your journaling experience as beneficial as possible for better mental health. 

Journal in a way that makes you comfortable 

There’s no “right way” to journal — you can do what works for you. You can write a poem if that helps you express yourself best, or if you like to draw, you can write a few words and draw or paint to express your feelings. 

Journaling doesn’t just have to be done in a notebook, either (although that’s certainly an option). You can journal digitally through your notes app or other writing app on your phone, if that’s easier for you. As long as you’re recording your thoughts and feelings in some way, you can journal however you’d like. 

Make your journaling routine easy 

Don’t set up a strict schedule or make journaling a complicated process. Keeping it simple helps ensure that you stick to doing it regularly. What works best for you will depend on your situation. 

A great approach is to keep your journal handy, so you can open it up and write it in as part of your daily routine — or anytime you want to write your thoughts and feelings down. 

Don’t worry about structure 

Your journal writing is for your own eyes — and maybe also your therapist’s. It’s not supposed to be a polished piece of writing. The important thing is to express your thoughts and feelings freely. Don’t worry about grammar, spelling, or structure. 

Write about both positive and negative experiences 

Including both positive and negative experiences and thoughts in your journal helps give you a more balanced and complete picture of your mental well-being. Focusing on just one or the other gives you a skewed perspective that may make it harder to work toward your overall mental health and therapy goals.

Use prompts when stuck 

If staring at a blank page leaves you feeling intimidated and unsure where to start, consider using a prompt to guide your thoughts, such as “What’s causing me stress right now?” or “ What am I thankful for today?” Look over our list of journal prompts above for more ideas. 

Experiment with different journaling techniques 

Try a few different journaling styles to see which ones you’re comfortable with or find more useful. You can even switch it up and use different techniques on different days, such as gratitude journaling every other day and stream-of-consciousness journaling a couple times a week.

Find the mental health support you seek with SonderMind 

When it comes to journaling for mental health, there’s no right or wrong way to express your thoughts and feelings. Journal in a way that feels natural and comfortable for you and supports your mental well-being goals.

And if you want to make even more progress toward your mental wellness goals, combine your journaling with therapy sessions. You can share your journal entries with your therapist to gain more insight or just use journaling as a supplement to your sessions.

Interested in mental health support from a therapist? At SonderMind, we can help you connect with a mental health professional for improved mental and emotional well-being!