A better state of mind may begin with a pen and paper. Learn how journaling can help mental health.

Published: January 22, 2024

Written by: Brienne Walsh

Feeling angry, sad or stressed? Explore those feelings by letting them pour out and onto the page. Write freely or organize thoughts as they happen, putting pen to paper to help with the flow.

These are methods of journaling, a simple practice that may help improve overall mental health.

“I find that when I journal, I’m really taking stock of my life and paying attention to the current moment,” says Lacey Tisch, the co-founder of Sage + Sound,1 a wellness destination in New York devoted to helping clients establish a self-care routine.

While it sounds easy (pen, paper, check), starting a journaling can be tricky. Especially if there are already many overwhelming feelings in day-to-day life. Here, we outline why journaling may be beneficial and offer tips for how to get started.

In this article:

The importance of mental health and self-care

“Self-care” is more than just a trendy buzzword. Consistently practicing it can help manage stress, lower risk of illness and even increase energy.2 Surveys reveal it can also boost self-confidence and increase productivity and feelings of happiness.3

So what is it exactly? Well, self-care can take on many forms, including exercising, eating healthy and getting enough quality sleep. It’s also very personal and can mean different things for different people. For some, the best self-care may involve spending time with friends. For others, it may be setting stronger boundaries to make time for themselves. Other popular self-care rituals include getting a haircut, taking a bath, watching a movie and, of course, journaling.

How does journaling help mental health?

“Grounding yourself in the present is a really effective way of alleviating stress and anxiety,” says Ruthie Duran Deffley,4 founder of Healthy Mind/Mente Sana, a private mental health practice in Savannah, Georgia.

And what’s a good way to get grounded? By engaging the senses, explains Deffley. Journaling, she adds, involves feeling the pen or pencil in the hand, seeing the words being formed and hearing the rustling of the paper or scribbling of the chosen writing tool. Typing on a keyboard or a smartphone can also be a sensory experience. Add a cup of coffee or tea to the ritual, and the taste buds are involved too.

Journaling can also help clear out mental static. “When we’re writing, we have to stay in the present because it’s close to impossible to have multiple thoughts and write a coherent sentence at the same time,” Deffley says.

Indeed, recent studies show that journaling may provide benefits in a wide array of mental illnesses, such as post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) or anxiety.5

It’s common for people to say, “I’m so overwhelmed by everything,” she adds, but once that “everything” is named, it may start to feel like the overwhelm is caused only by a few things — and those few things become more manageable as a result.

“If you take the time to name your thoughts, solutions may start to bubble up, priorities may start to emerge and natural groupings may organize,” Deffley says.

Journaling for mental health

Begin the journey by picking out a journal that sparks excitement about this new endeavor.

“I always encourage people to invest in the tools (hard copy or digital) that will make journaling feel more like a pleasure than an arduous task,” says Annie Wright,6 LMFT, licensed marriage and family therapist and founder of Evergreen Counseling.7

The thought of taking on something new in our already busy lives can often scare us into inaction. Wright recommends combining journaling with a beloved ritual that already exists.

For instance, if you love a cup of coffee in the morning (brewing the pot, pouring the liquid and sitting down in a cozy chair with the steaming mug) consider adding journaling to the mix. This will help establish some discipline and consistency when it comes to the new practice.

“It’s a lot easier to piggyback off an existing behavior than to create space for a whole new thing,” adds Deffley.

For the first few entries, Deffley recommends dumping anything that is going on in the mind onto the page. “Don’t worry about punctuation, letter size or grammar,” she says. Setting a limit (for example, three pages or 10 minutes of writing) will also help prevent the activity from feeling like a chore, she explains.

If a prompt is preferred, Deffley suggests trying “What am I feeling right now?” as a jumping-off point followed by “What do I need right now?”

Wright often tells her clients to begin with 10 detailed things they are grateful for. “A prompt like this can have multiple benefits, including reducing negative ruminations, cultivating appreciation and mindfulness, and catalyzing more positive feelings,” she says.

How can journaling help reduce stress?

In a survey conducted by the American Institute of Stress, 55 percent of Americans reported feeling stressed out daily, and 94 percent of respondents reported feeling stressed out at work.8

And stress, which the World Health Organization characterizes as a state of worry or mental tension caused by a difficult situation,9 can have negative effects on someone’s health. Indeed, chronic stress can cause heart disease, high blood pressure and strokes, among other conditions.10

Journaling can help alleviate some of this tension by externalizing it, Wright explains. “Writing down your worries or problems can create perceived distance,” she says.

To address stress specifically, Deffley recommends using a prompt like, “What is in my control right now?” followed by, “What is out of my control?”

“Focusing on what’s in your control can redirect your limited attention towards solutions,” she says.

Wright recommends identifying and writing down five top worries and considering what a “wise figure” would say about each of them. “A wise figure can be someone known in real life, a character from a book or movie or perhaps someone from religion or spirituality,” she says, adding that doing this can spark creative thinking and help develop perspective.

Journaling when anxiety comes

Prompts that may work in other situations may not work when anxiety crops up. Anxiety is a condition characterized by feelings of fear, dread or uneasiness as well as physical symptoms like a rapid heartbeat and sweating.11

Focusing on feelings of gratitude in these moments can feel forced or trite. So Deffley recommends taking a different approach by using a prompt like “Rate your anxiety from 1 to 10.” Then write down the things that would help to decrease that number — from an 8 to 7, for example. “Sometimes people can get themselves down to one just by asking themselves that question,” she says.

Wright advocates writing a letter to your future self: name your feelings, congratulate yourself and reflect on what you learned in the process. “This can help create distance between you and your problems, help you gain perspective on the temporary nature of challenges and reframe hard times as growth opportunities,” she says.

While journaling is a wonderful tool, it may not be enough if there are thoughts of self-harm or hopelessness. If that's the case, contact a trusted mental health professional. MinuteClinic offers mental health counseling in select states.

If you have trouble categorizing the experience — identifying whether it’s anxiety or depression, for example — consult your health care provider or consider booking a depression screening at MinuteClinic. And if that doesn’t seem like what’s needed, call the Suicide and Crisis Lifeline at 988.

Please note, this content is for informational purposes only and should not be taken as a substitute for seeking care from a qualified health care provider. If you are really struggling, call the Suicide and Crisis Lifeline at 988.

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