Anyone "do" journalling? (ie, writing down thoughts/feelings to make sense of them)

summerday

The thought of typing entries just doesn't work for me, I think it'd feel less natural and spontaneous a process than hand writing and I'd end up correcting my spellings and grammar lol! But I think it's a very individual thing and I'm sure typing works well for some people.

miss_independent

I sometimes need to write things down, when I would rather keep things private and don't want to mention it to anyone - I feel that it has helped me. In the past I used fancy notebooks but because of privacy issues I now use https://www.my-diary.org which is free and password protected.

juliaw

Journals can be read and used as evidence against you, so disguise people's identities when you have anything negative to write about them. Also you should resist writing detailed descriptions of your sexual encounters.

If you are using the journal as therapy, you have enough to worry about without being afraid that your journal might be seen.

Citygirl1

This is my worry but surely its only an outside chance of a journal being read or used in evidence.

angelil

Journalling? What a horrid Americanism. Last time I checked it was called "keeping a diary" here in the UK...

That aside, though, it is most effective. I kept a diary for about seven years and it really helped me get through my various issues. I had a horrible time and am convinced I would have reacted/taken things out on others in far worse ways without it. So yes, I would recommend it. Privacy was a huge issue for me though with family and 'friends' regularly snooping around and trying to read it. Make sure it has a key and keep the key with you at all times. Or password protect it in Word, or use the 'private' setting on a site like Livejournal.

babymoo

I do it quite regularly and have done for a number of years and it helps me immensely! Give it a shot, even if you never read it back or never let anyone else read it, actually writing it down helps to get it straight in your head in the first place.

catflea

I've been blogging for the best part of 18 months, trying to write an entry each week and normally forgetting.

Its purpose is primarily to remind me where I have been, how I was feeling about things and how much I have managed to move on. I started it when I was in a massive depressive state, had no GP, no-one to talk to etc so I talked to the internet. The contents are personal, but I'm a very open person so don't mind if people want to read it. Anything you put online is public anyway.

Its really good reading back on it from time to time, although sometimes I get the "well, nothings really changed" response but normally its something like "you've come a long way, keep at it"