How To Journal for Anxiety Related Disorders

Anxiety is far much more common than is actually reported by mainstream media. While depression is reported more and given the attention, anxiety and related conditions rarely come into the limelight of discussion. Anxiety and anxiety related disorders are a group of disorders which are characterized by autonomic hyperactivity in the face of certain situations. General anxiety disorder is much more common and affects a large percentage of the population.

Anxiety may and often presents with palpitations, fear and a complete shut down when faced with people, crowds or situations that require exposure. While there are pharmacological drugs that can calm down an anxious person, sometimes the best way to deal with anxiety is to identify the trigger, the pattern and the thought process related to it.

Journaling for anxiety is a great way to identify what causes your anxiety, how your body feels about the trigger, how you respond to it and ultimately how you can overcome it. Once you are able to understand a pattern of thought that triggers anxiety, you get to have control over it and its ability to send you into a panic.

Ways of Anxiety Journaling

Prompted Journaling

If it is your first-time journaling, you may require some prompting to get your thoughts going. Prompted journaling relies on prompts and questions which when answered create a narrative that guides your reflections. Most prompts are open ended which allows you to simply pen down what you feel at the moment.

There are journals that offer prompts depending on what you feel. These journals have different prompts every day. If you write down your thoughts according to the prompts faithfully and openly, with time you will be able to notice patterns of thinking or responses that fuel your anxiety.

If you are unable to find a prompt journal and are currently seeing a therapist, ask them to provide the prompts for you. Find time at the beginning or end of the day to pen down your thoughts on each of the prompts. You can ask your therapist to review your thoughts or choose to reflect on them by yourself. Either way, patterns, especially unhealthy ones are simple to note.

Stream of Consciousness

Our conscious has a million tabs open at any one time. If we take the time to listen to it, we will be able to identify a lot about ourselves. Why? Many different voices speak to our conscious at any one time. Stream of consciousness is a form of journaling where you pen down everything that comes to your consciousness.

You do not place a filter on what you think should or should not be written down. Instead, every thought, feeling, reaction Is written down and then analysed later. You can pick a certain time every week to review the contents of your journal. Because what is written is largely “raw” it is much easier to identify patterns, feelings and thoughts that intrude into our conscious and cause us anxiety.

Stream of consciousness also works as a cathartic way to let go of intruding thoughts for people who suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder.

Thought diary

A thought diary is very similar to a prompt diary. A thought diary, however, focuses largely on thoughts and how they make us feel. An easy way to make your own thought diary is to create topics such as “thoughts, feelings, actions. Each of these responses should come from the heart unfiltered.

Keep this diary going regularly and take note of repeated feelings or actions to a particular thought or feeling.

Examples of Prompts for Your Diary

• Write a letter to your younger self
• What are your three best kept secrets?
• What do you wish you knew when you were younger?
• What is one movie or book that resonated with you? Why do you think it did?
• Name 5 anxiety triggers for you
• Write a letter to yourself forgiving yourself for something you did in the past
• What is something you wish you said no to this week?
• If you were to have a perfect day, what would It look like?
• What do you wish you were able to tell your partner if you knew it wouldn’t hurt them?

Benefits Of Journaling for Anxiety

There are many benefits to journaling. Among them are;

1. Boosting your mood. Journaling is a great way to boost your mood instantly. Letting go of thoughts that are harmful gives room for nice calming thoughts.
2. Reduces anxiety considerably. When faced with a task or event that creates fear in you, journaling about it can help reduce the anxious thoughts associated with it.
3. Relieves masked symptoms of depression. Journaling in itself allows us to note what stresses us and to be able to avoid these triggers as well as to deal with them
4. Journaling is very effective in dealing with intrusive thoughts of PTSD.

If you are looking to start journaling, start small by putting to paper thoughts that run through your mind. It may take time to learn to not filter your thoughts. When you reach a point of writing your thoughts raw, seek structure in the form of prompts. Take time to review your thoughts and identify patterns that need to change or that may need help.