Mental Health Journal Prompts to Manage Stress and Anxiety
It’s a well-known fact that penning your emotions down can help lessen their intensity.
Mental illnesses are rising every day, and we have become more aware of them and tackle them through various means. For example: is writing a journal good for your mental health illnesses? And if so, why is journaling important for your mental health?
If you are juggling with a lot of journaling questions, our article will give you more information.
We have covered various aspects to help you with your thoughts, including mental illness writing prompts, self-reflecting daily mental health journal prompts, pdfs, related questions, types of journaling, and things to journal about for mental health.
We hope this article helps you with journaling for mental health.
So, let’s dive in!
What Is a Mental Health Journal?
A mental health journal is where you can document all your feelings, mental state, illnesses, and everything else. There are numerous things to journal for mental health, and it’s great to let everything out in any possible way.
When it comes to journals, you have a plethora of options. Digital or paper-based, tight or a looseleaf, text-based or an image-based, you can choose the option that aids you the most! After all, it is a personal, safe space where you can let out anything in any manner you wish to.
However, while journaling helps with your mental health concerns, “It does not take the place of therapy,” according to Chivonna Childs Ph.D., a counseling psychologist for Cleveland Clinic in Ohio.
Everyone has a different way of channeling their emotions; some prefer to go on a walk, while some prefer to sweat it out in the gym. However, everyone needs to give journaling a chance. We have combined some of the best journaling prompts for your mental health.
Why Journaling Is Good for Mental Health?
Journaling helps you battle your mental illnesses. There are many options for what to write in the journal for your mental health. This is an excellent outlet for the emotions that we all bottle in. You can write about the most random thoughts of the day and even mention the most complicated feelings that you believe might not make sense to anyone else.
Mentioning the things you are grateful for can help shift your mindset towards some positivity in the day. In addition, it can help you analyze yourself and guide you to a solution to the problems you might be facing.
Personally, journaling has become a safe space for me to express the emotions that one may go through on a daily basis. Whether it is taking down notes to discuss in therapy or just writing to collect jumbled thoughts, journaling has done wonders.
A small study by researchers at Pennsylvania State University found that journaling can decrease mental distress, depressive symptoms, and anxiety. In fact, it can increase the mental well-being of the person. Other research related to journaling also explains that it can reduce the symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder.
Penning down whatever is on your mind can help you find your triggering points and coping mechanisms. Once you are self-aware of all these aspects, you might be able to communicate better in therapy or even work on the emotions yourself.
To help you get started, we have included daily self-reflection mental health illness journal writing prompts. Get yourself started using journaling apps for mental health, or simply grab a paper and a pen!
Types Of Journaling for Mental Health
Now that we have answered your question about how journaling helps and improves your mental health, we will be discussing the types of diaries you can keep. There are numerous types of journaling for mental health, but we will be discussing only three in this section. Accordingly, you can choose the best-guided journaling prompts for your mental health diary.
Bullet Journal
In this type of journal, you can list down all of your thoughts and ideas for the day in bullet points. You do not need to worry about the consistency and the flow of your thoughts; you can simply write down short pointers to empty out the mess in your mind. This kind of journaling is ideal for beginners who feel clueless about what to put in their journals.
These mental health bullet journal ideas are followed by apps too, and you can get such journaling apps for your mental health, with a mood tracker for advanced functionality.
No Judgment Journal
A no judgment journal is where you can write anything and everything without any fear of judgment. Often, we forget that we are the most jugemental towards ourselves.
Dump all the thoughts that are on your mind onto the journal, no matter how dark. A big part of journaling is realizing that dark thoughts are natural in every human being. You aren’t a bad person for having such thoughts. They are natural!
Write in any manner you wish, use any mediums you like, just remember to express your inner self. From texts to images to stamps, use anything! Make your diary colorful; use stickers, pens, markers, and anything available to you. The only idea here is to express your feelings.
Gratitude Journal
This journal is meant to make you feel better and shift your mind toward a positive and brighter side of life. It’s time to make the grass greener on your side! For any situation, there can always be a silver lining. Sometimes, you just have to look really hard for it. If we tend to focus on the positive, we might be able to wire our minds to be more optimistic. This can be quite effective in finding solutions to any of your problems.
To help you get started, we have included guided journal entry prompts for your mental health.
Mental Health Journal Prompts
Writing in your journal can be the first or the last thing you do in the day. The best way is to vent everything out on that piece of paper in any way you feel like. Here are some prompts to help you get started:
How did your day go?
What is the highlight of your day that made you smile?
Identify the things that you are grateful for today.
Any event that occurred throughout the day that made you feel sad?
How did you cope with the day?
What are the coping mechanisms that you use for your mental health concerns? Are they healthy?
What are your goals for today? Did you achieve any of them?
Write something positive for yourself that you might tell to people who are in similar situations.
Describe yourself and how you feel to a stranger.
How do you describe yourself? How do you want to be recognized by people?
What are your strengths in friendship or relationship? (e.g., kindness or empathy)
What are the essential boundaries you should keep in relationships to keep them healthy?
Write a love letter to yourself.
What are some of the lessons that you have learned in your past relationships?
How do you show compassion to others? How can you extend that same compassion to yourself?
Describe a peaceful place where you’d like to be.
What are the triggering points that make you stressed, anxious, or angry?
Write a letter of forgiveness to yourself.
What do you fear the most?
What improvements would you like to make in your current life?
Write about a difficult situation and how you coped with it?
Is there anything new you learn about yourself today? (e.g., passion for a sport or love for reading books)
What are your favorite songs? Why have they made it to the list? Do they mimic your situation or help you with coping with the difficulties?
What is one of the strongest emotions that you have felt?
How would you like to change the situation? What needs to be done?
What things or which people are comforting for you?
What makes you laugh the most?
What are the deepest secrets you hold that you never talk about?
If you have ever experienced panic attacks, how did you cope with them?
What was one of the worst panic attacks? What triggered it?
Is your anxiety tied to a memory or an experience?
What has stress taught you about yourself?
If you could achieve anything in your life, what would it be?
Conclusion
Dealing with a mental health crisis can be hard, especially if you do not have the support you need. With journaling, you can be part of your own support! Whether you choose to do traditional pen and paper journaling or use an app, buckle up and start writing. We wish you the best of luck on this journey! We are sure you will come out to be stronger than anything before.
