6 Ways to Process your Feelings in Writing: How to Journal for Anxiety and Depression
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In this episode I’m going to teach you another way to process emotions. It’s something you can do on your own, and it’s a powerful way to work through the jumble of thoughts and emotions that are all up in your brain. Today you’re going to learn how to journal for depression and anxiety.
There are many ways to work through emotions with writing- a brain dump, a locus of control activity, and many more ways to write about your emotions.
Journaling is really simple; you just write about what you’re feeling or thinking or experiencing. Journaling can help you track your moods or identify triggering situations. It can help decrease anxiety and stress, and it can also help you gain a clearer perspective on your challenges.
Journaling has been shown to help your physical health too. It can lower blood pressure, help your immune system, and improve liver function.2 Writing can help you get to know yourself better and improve your relationships. Journaling has been shown to improve mood and fight depression.
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In therapy I use a combination of Acceptance and Commitment Therapy, Systems Theory, positive psychology, and a bio-psycho-social approach to treating mental illness and other challenges we all face in life. The ideas from my videos are frequently adapted from multiple sources. Many of them come from Acceptance and Commitment Therapy, especially the work of Steven Hayes, Jason Luoma, and Russ Harris. The sections on stress and the mind-body connection derive from the work of Stephen Porges (the Polyvagal theory), Peter Levine (Somatic Experiencing) Francine Shapiro (EMDR), and Bessel Van Der Kolk. I also rely heavily on the work of the Arbinger institute for my overall understanding of our ability to choose our life’s direction.
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23 Comments
My partner passed away four months ago. I am writing to him “letters” in the form of a journal.
i've only recently started journaling daily (before, I used to journal only when I feel so awful or there's so much problem), and one thing that helped me is to intentionally review my journal entries. It's kinda cringy at first, but there's so much insight to be gained reading my past entries! I just choose the day randomly, and now I think reviewing what I wrote is actually sorta fun??? I also like to reference the past entries when I'm writing the entry for the day; I would laugh or reassure or sympathize at my past self (sometimes even have another crying session 😁)
Been in depression and anxiety for almost two years now and journaling definitely helps 💯
I am 63 since last week. I am STILL invisible as of now… 🫥
Writing helps me become visible, at least to myself. In the Army, there is a sort of nick to describe an adult invisible type of person – "ghost". Sometimes I think I am becoming one. I'm turning into a ghost 👻 ❤ If you hear my story, though, a little bit of solidity comes back, a little colour. Won't you listen just a little?
😶🌫️
I think Knox County, Fox River Valley, Chicago, & Algonquin ought to be added as haunted places in Illinois, in the American Midwest.
I grew up in Knox County, Western Illinois. Our county is known for its old Edwardian & Victorian houses, its horrific rural & small town crimes, and not as well known for massacres & ethnic cleansing of indigenous people, abuses against disabled & mentally ill persons, and women.
I have only just begun to tell our story & the account of the abuses committed against my siblings & me, hidden in secret, sealed when my parents died. Or so it seemed.
🧱
My three surviving siblings, Karola, Mag, Yoshi, and I, who are each on the autism spectrum, according to Maggie, a.k.a. Margrethe. I concur with her; however, I believe that my brother, Maggie & I are also ADHD & survivors of childhood trauma. Mag & the others must tell their own story – it is theirs to tell. I intend to go into more detail about my own abuse & struggles.
Abuse, bullying , & other suffering have to do with haunted places. Abuse is taught, passed on from one generation to another. Ghosts 👻 exist maybe because they weren't able to tell their story or get justice. I don't have much time left, so I had better begin. I don't want to hang around as an unfulfilled or angry spirit.
Thank you for validating my coping mechanisms!
Journaling helped me process my complicated feelings of anger, resentment, and guilt. Brain dumping, diagramming, and clarifying locus of control have helped me research major life changes and write down my step by step solutions so I could navigate through them effectively.
Perhaps I shall try writing letters I won't send and alternate versions of a situation. ^^
I loved this thank you 🤩 Been a Falkner fan for decades.
Thank you so much. This is really helpful. I have watched many of your videos and they are very clear and good.❤
Very helpful. New subscriber here
I needed this so badly! thank you so much
Thank you God for insight, hindsight and foresight in Jesus name amen 🙏
Glad to hear about liver function improvements 😊 So many health benefits. Thank you so very much God and his people for Christian journalists too amen
I specifically searched for this topic, meaning I am interested in learning more about it. Yet, at over 5-minutes into this 10-minute video, I am still being told about the benefits of journaling -which one would think I'd already be aware of, or at the very least, I'd have searched for a video that specifically focused on that topic; instead of one that has the title "How to Journal for Anxiety and Depression."
Absolutely agree, https://youtube.com/shorts/KQRjUfmn7aY?si=QKBPNW7xE0gN6TSO
Thank you so much ❤
But I’m afraid if i start journaling, if i write about about my anxiety or sadness it’ll only make me stuck in rumination. I will think about the uncomfortable moments over and over again. It’s really hard to have a weak mind
Everyone says try journaling but I never know what to write. They say write how you feel. I feel anxious. I don’t know what else to write beside that
I love this. I used to write poetry to release the overwhelming feelings. It's interesting that you mention writing an alternate version of your life. I get ideas for stories that way. I'm going to try these because i kind of lost myself in my family and relationship wounds. I have been struggling with getting back to being more in control of my mental health. My traumas and triggers from my childhood has made daily life difficult but one day i will find peace. That's what I'm fighting for. I'm a survivor but i really want to find out who calm chris looks like because i haven't seen him yet.
I keep a diary since 9 years ago. And I can say this, things start to change once you get comfortable with the idea of putting your thoughts into writing (scripta manent…) and you start being honest, explicit. So my advice is: find yourself a diary (or journal) that gives you enough sense of security, to make you feel safe enough to write down your darkest, most shameful, most painful thoughts. To me, a digital journal password coded changed the game.
Why don't you ever talk about the mind? Only ever the brain? Let alone the soul? Seems like an incomplete, limited, overly materialistic view of consciousness. Not very holistic at all. Just my thoughts.
I'm going to buy some notebooks so I can try all these out. I love writing and I do still struggle to process my recent breakup and the realization of my childhood traumas influencing my decisions
Ephesians 4:22-24
that, in reference to your former manner of life, you lay aside the old self, which is being corrupted in accordance with the lusts of deceit, and that you be renewed in the spirit of your mind, and put on the new self, which in the likeness of God has been created in righteousness and holiness of the truth.
knowing this, that our old man was crucified with Him, that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves of sin.
Romans 6:6
Do not lie to one another, since you have put off the old man with his deeds, and have put on the new man who is renewed in knowledge according to the image of Him who created him, where there is neither Greek nor Jew, circumcised nor uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave nor free, but Christ is all and in all.
Colossians 3:9-11
Jesus said to him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.
John 14:68
Thank you very helpful ❤
Thank you, I didn't know where to start