Journaling Therapy For Anxiety
When you are looking for relief from anxiety, you’ll try just about anything. So you scour the internet looking at ways to give yourself relief from the constant debilitating symptoms. Journaling therapy for anxiety can be a very efficient, cost-effective and easy way to start getting relief with very little investment (except saying goodbye to your anxiety!)
- The racing heart.
- Uncontrollable thoughts.
- Constantly worrying over every situation or outcome.
- Shallow Breathing
- Difficulty with sleeping
Anxiety is a nightmare to deal with and so many of us out there are dealing with it. In 2020 alone (for obvious reasons) there was a significant increase in any anxiety disorder diagnoses, going from 31.4% from 2019 to 36.9%.)
But looking at all of the different ways that might help your anxiety feels so overwhelming. “Will it actually help me? What if it doesn’t help me?” And suddenly, there is anxiety over your anxiety and your spiraling. There’s a wealth of information out there, so it’s understandable.
What if I told you that there were effective ways to help you feel better? That isn’t going to cause you to dish out hundreds of dollars to try something that might not work? Or even worse, waste what little precious time you do have.
Journaling therapy for anxiety is not only cost effective, simple to do, and best of all – highly useful for helping you manage symptoms in acute moments of panic or anxiety as well as helping you lower your baseline anxiety.
Journaling Therapy For Anxiety Tip 1. Letting Emotions Go
One of the ways that anxiety begins is that we sometimes keep too much bottled up inside. Instead of talking about what we are going through or worried about, we keep it inside. Causing our nervous systems to go into overdrive and prolonging anxiousness.
When you begin journaling, you are literally releasing these emotions and intrusive thoughts out of your body and on to a piece of paper. Instead of letting them ruminate inside your mind, writing them down can help you think more clearly over the situation that is bothering you or what is going on inside your mind.
To begin getting the benefit of journaling, start off small by doing it for 5 minutes at a time. When you get something on your mind that is troubling you, write it out. It will help prevent these thoughts from cycling through your mind and will help the attack on the nervous system.
Journaling Therapy For Anxiety Tip 2. Read What You Wrote Down
Journaling is a great way to get everything out in the open – but for your own eyes only. So when are you are journaling, don’t be afraid to just write it down as it comes to you. Nobody has to ever see your private thoughts and worries. After you are done, review everything. What did you journal about during that time? Are you writing about things that are bothering you or you are nervous over – but realize you don’t have any real reason to be? As you read your words, are you realistically reacting to something or is this something you are just working up in your head?
Journaling Therapy For Anxiety Tip 3. Write About The Positive, Too!
Journaling does not have to just be about the dreary and negative things we are thinking. In fact, there is plenty of benefit to journaling about the positive too. At the end of each of your anxiety therapy journaling sessions, end it on a positive note. What is going right? What do you have to look forward to? It will help ground you back into the present moment by realizing that while there are things that are bothering you, it doesn’t mean everything is going wrong.
Journaling Therapy For Anxiety Tip 4. There Is No “Right” Way To Journal
Chances are, if you have anxiety, you are always focusing on everything going right. For everything to be perfect and to go according to plan. Life is very rarely like this.
Don’t get caught up on making the words completely legible. Or your sentences being grammatically correct, free from errors. You aren’t setting out to become the world’s greatest author. This is for your benefit and the well-being of your mental health.
I understand how hard it is to deal with anxiety and know the struggles that come with it. While journaling therapy for anxiety is a fantastic starting point to begin your journey to healing, that’s not all you can do.
Dealing with anxiety is very anxiety inducing! It can have really debilitating effects on your life and overall happiness. If you are struggling to overcome anxiety, reach out to my Honolulu or London office to start your path to a less anxious and more enjoyable life.
I am a Licensed Mental Health Counselor in Hawaii and an Accredited CBT Therapist in the UK with over 16 years of experience. I specialize in anxiety treatment and have received advanced specialist training in Cognitive Behavior Therapy and Compassion Focused Therapy. I offer a free initial Anxiety Treatment Test Drive Session.
By working with a licensed anxiety therapist and life coach, I can help you learn how to incorporate journaling therapy for anxiety, learn to manage anxiety well and thrive!
