Introduction
People, especially children, often keep journals by recording their emotions, feelings, and thoughts about their life experiences and events. Journaling is thus expressing emotions, feelings, and thoughts through written words. There are two types of journaling: expressive writing, which involves 3-4 sessions focusing on an individual’s emotional experiences, and gratitude journaling, which focuses on the positive aspects of a person’s life.
For many years, psychologists ignored the use of journaling in mental health management due to its unclearness, even though there were several indications that it could be an essential tool for controlling mental health problems. However, recently, keeping a record of personal thoughts and emotional experiences has proven to be a critical tool in the management of mental health. Various advantages are associated with journaling, making it suitable for mental health. Some advantages include tracking day-to-day symptoms, boosting emotional well-being, and facilitating a quicker recovery. Even though there are some minor disadvantages, such as overthinking life and confronting, journaling remains a critical approach for managing mental health.
Importance of Journaling on Mental Health
Tracking Day-to-Day Symptoms
Journaling is essential for mental health because it helps identify the stressors that trigger emotional problems and associated symptoms, making management easier. Generally, mental health problems are always caused by various triggers. The stressors vary in manifestation among different individual victims. Identifying the stressors can be critical in reducing and managing mental health challenges.
Journaling helps to track down the symptoms that cause the emotional problem (Prescott et al., 2022). By writing down day-to-day emotions, thoughts, and feelings, an individual can identify and manage the specific stressor that triggers the problem. Expressive writing, in particular, can help track symptoms by enabling one to highlight daily thoughts, feelings, and emotional experiences and assess them.
For example, mental problems such as depression may be triggered by stressors such as divorce and loneliness. Identifying the stressor can help manage mental health by avoiding or reducing thoughts on the identified stressor. As in the case of depression and divorce, a victim can manage the challenge by seeking the company of friends and family members to avoid loneliness, which will trigger the depressive thoughts of divorce and associated heartbreak.
Boosting the Mood
Second, journaling is good for mental health because it helps boost mood. Journaling can boost mood by recording positive aspects of life, such as achievements, glories, and successes. In particular, gratitude journaling can help improve mood and morale by highlighting the positive sides of life. Some mental health problems can be caused by self-esteem issues or loss of self-confidence. For example, a victim of apathy may battle feelings of individual failure or feel that they are not doing enough in life.
Gratitude writing can help boost the mood of such individuals by highlighting the positive aspects of life (Krentzman et al., 2022). The victim can write down positive aspects, such as academic successes and professional achievements, which may help restore self-confidence and morale. Similarly, mental health problems such as imposter syndrome triggered by self-esteem issues can be managed and reduced through gratitude writing. For example, an individual battling fraud and worthlessness can overcome the challenge by writing down the positive aspects of life and reflecting upon them. Focusing on the positive aspects, such as weddings, can help to overturn the negative feelings and boost one’s mood.
In addition, journaling helps to boost mood and morale by encouraging a positive view of life through a coherent narrative of life. Writing down events and emotional experiences can improve understanding of life and help to develop emotional immunity. Journaling enables individuals to record positive and negative aspects of their lives. Through the records, a person will understand the incoherence of life and develop the required immunity.
For example, mental health problems caused by individual failures can be overcome by reflecting on the positive aspects of life, such as successes and achievements (Sifat et al., 2022). Reviewing past successes and achievements can restore individual confidence and boost mood. Similarly, depressive thoughts triggered by low self-esteem can be overcome by reflecting on positive achievements. In the same vein, an individual can draw motivation from past events. For example, mental health associated with job loss can be overcome by reflecting on past achievements before and during employment and gaining motivation.
Enhancing Recovery
Third, recording personal daily life experiences is critical for emotional health because it enhances recovery from traumatic events. Recording the experiences and emotional events can help victims of mental health to have a realistic and optimistic view of the occurrences, analyze, and overcome them. Emotional events such as grief are lessened when written down, analyzed, and confronted.
Typically, psychologists advise that the best way to overcome an emotional problem is by accepting and confronting the event or experience; thus, journaling will help write and record the problem for easier acceptance and confrontation (Sohal et al., 2022). For example, acceptance and confrontation easily overcome grief as an emotional problem. Recording the grief can help to process the death, accept, and confront the associated emotional problem, thereby achieving healthy grieving and eventually healing. Journaling will help the bereaved have a timely grieving, facilitating permanent and healthy healing.
In addition, personal documentation enhances recovery by helping an individual to see the good side of life. Recording life events and experiences will open the eyes of the victims of various emotional problems to see the positive side of life. Generally, everyone has a positive side of life characterized by personal achievements and success (Smriti et al., 2022).
Even though life can take a negative turn, reflecting on life’s positive side can help motivate a person and promote recovery. For example, mental health triggered by economic problems, such as financial frustration, can be overcome by looking at the positive aspects of life, such as a stable marriage. While battling economic problems, one can appreciate the stability of their marriage and draw motivation, thereby enhancing quick recovery.
Finally, journaling is good for mental health because it enhances recovery by cultivating gratitude. Most victims of mental health problems experience hopelessness and desperation due to a lack of motivation to live. However, the recorded positive aspects of life in the journals may help to restore hope and confidence, thereby overcoming the desperate feelings and self-pity (Smriti et al., 2022). As a result, the victims may overcome the feeling of hopelessness and desperation and appreciate life. For instance, victims of divorce can appreciate life through economic achievements, such as a job promotion.
Counterargument
Despite the various advantages of journaling for mental health, some argue that it is not a good tool for emotional health. The dissenting argument states that journaling is harmful because it can cause individuals to overthink their lives, be too confronting, and trigger a spiral down (Sohal et al., 2022). According to counterarguments, journaling can make people overthink their lives when composing their writings, as some may lack the idea of what to write (Sifat et al., 2022).
Secondly, recording can be confronting when documenting negative aspects of life, such as grief or divorce. The heartbreaking feelings from the adverse events can be overwhelming, evoking a series of negative emotions (Sifat et al., 2022). Since the human mind is systematic, recording negative occurrences may trigger negative emotions and feelings, subjecting one to an emotional meltdown. The arguments are, however, not actual because most mental health problems are defeated through acceptance and confrontation, which facilitate healing, since ignoring the experiences only delays the problems (Smriti et al., 2022). Many people find journaling emotionally relieving and a successful way of managing mental challenges.
Conclusion
In conclusion, journaling benefits mental health by allowing individuals to monitor daily symptoms and manage underlying issues. Additionally, it supports mood and morale by highlighting positive aspects of life and fostering motivation. Finally, journaling aids recovery by promoting a realistic and optimistic perspective, helping individuals process emotionally challenging experiences. In the future, it is essential, especially for victims of mental health issues, to have a personal record of life events, as it will help in overcoming emotional problems.
References
Krentzman, A. R., Hoeppner, B. B., Hoeppner, S. S., & Barnett, N. P. (2022). Development, feasibility, acceptability, and impact of a positive psychology journaling intervention to support addiction recovery. The Journal of Positive Psychology, 1-19. Web.
Prescott L. Susan, Greeson M. Jeffrey & El-Sherbini S. Mona (2022). No health without mental health: Taking action to heal a world in distress-with people, places, and planet “in mind”. Challenges. 20781547, p37. Web.
Sifat S. Munjireen, Tasnim. N., Stoebenau. K., & Green. M. Kerry (2022). A qualitative exploration of university student perspectives on mindfulness-based stress reduction exercises via smartphone app in Bangladesh. International Journal of Qualitative Studies. 1-13. Web.
Smriti, D., Ambulkar, S., Meng, Q., Kaimal, G., Ramotar, K., Park, S. Y., & Huh-Yoo, J. (2022). Creative arts therapies for the mental health of emerging adults: A systematic review. The Arts in Psychotherapy, 77, 101861. Web.
Sohal, M., Singh, P., Dhillon, B. S., & Gill, H. S. (2022). Efficacy of journaling in the management of mental illness: A systematic review and meta-analysis. Family Medicine and Community Health, 10(1). Web.