All my therapist tells me to do is journal: Here’s why….

There’s a stereotype that goes around about how therapists and counselors over-suggest some form of journaling/writing to address pretty much any symptom.

Feeling depressed? Journal.

Anxious? Put it on paper

Overwhelmed? Write about it

While one would hope that your therapist is suggesting more then just journaling, why is this such a commonly prescribed tool?

Understanding some of the logic behind putting our thoughts on paper might explain why we get this recommendation all of the time.

When we’re feeling a certain kind of way, it could be helpful to know that our brains have limitations just like any other part of our body. If somebody asked us to bench-press 300 lbs., this would be something that most of us would not be capable of due to the simple fact that we don’t have enough muscle to do so. Similarly, when we ask our brain to organize our thoughts and emotions, we may be overestimating the capacity our brain has to do so. One might look at a pen and paper as a USB drive that we add to our brains in order to manage the workload.

Somebody who is feeling down might find themselves overestimating how bad things are really going for them. For example: somebody might be feeling overly sad about a poor performance review they got at work. This can bog them down for a while due to their brain’s initial interpretation of the event; bad performance review = not doing a good job = I suck.  Without taking the time to challenge this emotion, it’s easy to get pulled down the rabbit hole of feeling bad and your brain might (inaccurately) continue its job of letting you know that it’s time to feel bad about yourself.

But let’s say you were asked to write down why you were feeling down. This might sound elementary, but this challenges you to put your emotions on trial. It makes you take a logical approach to addressing a negative emotion. When we see things on paper, it gives our brain the opportunity to process it two times; once as we write it down – and then again when we see what we’re writing down. This can help break up the initial thought of “not doing a good job = I suck”. This can grant somebody the time to consider whether or not in the scheme of things, one negative performance review really defines them. Our brains simply do a better job when it can evaluate something that is tangible and concrete in from of them rather than a passive, intangible thought.

Furthermore, writing down how we’re feeling can help us keep track of what is making us feel the way we are. How often do we find ourselves feeling overwhelmed only to realize that we don’t actually have as much on our plate as we were allowing ourselves to think. You might be surprised at how few the number of stressors you have going on is when you put it on paper. It’s easy for us to tangle all of our thoughts into an overwhelming web of stress - but taking the time or organize what is actually stressing us out will often reveal that it’s not really that bad.

These are just some of the reasons you might hear your therapist suggest journaling as an intervention; and the truth is that putting thoughts together with pen and paper can be truly effective in managing your emotions.