Professor at the University of Texas James Pennebaker was among the first to discuss the mental health benefits of taking notes. When he was in depression, James committed all his worries to paper, which gradually helped him get over the illness.

This personal experience motivated Pennebaker to research the links between writing and emotional processing. He studied the concept for over 40 years, asking test subjects to write about events that evoked strong emotions or even traumatized them.

As a result, their physical and mental conditions improved: People began to feel happier, their depression disappeared, and their blood pressure dropped.

Today, many researchers work on journaling to make this technique even more effective. When typing “journaling” or “journaling for mental health” in search engines, you can find tons of online testimonials from people using diaries to deal with stress or depression.

Journaling (keeping a diary) is worth your attention if:

• You’ve officially got any of these diagnoses: depression, post-trauma stress disorder, anxiety disorder, or bipolar illness.
• You’re under stress right now, even if you think you’re doing a great job dealing with it.
• You feel depressed, procrastinate a lot, or have anxiety attacks.
• You have problems with sleep because of the thoughts swirling in your head.
• You realize that your life could be better, but you don’t understand what you need to do for that.

A diary can’t substitute psychotherapists or medications. But it can prevent anxiety disorders or mild depression for those constantly living under stress.

How to Write in a Diary to Make It Work

It’s up to you what format to choose for keeping a diary: short or longer essays in notebooks or any text apps, audio or video journaling. Test each for a few days to understand which fits you better.

Also, it’s up to you whether to show your diary to anyone, but some formats assume that even the author can’t re-read it.

The only thing that matters:

Don’t give up writing even if you feel good and it seems you have nothing troublesome to share. You can start writing less frequently (not every day), but do your best to maintain that regularity.

To avoid getting lost and quickly establish a new healthy habit, try some ready-made techniques:

1) Pennebaker’s method

Try keeping a diary just like the chief researcher of its benefits did:

• Write 20 minutes daily (use a timer if it doesn’t make you nervous).
• Write about the events of the past week, month, or even year that have affected you emotionally.
• You write for yourself, so don’t worry about your text’s grammar, punctuation, or stylistic beauty.
• There’s no need to re-read or keep those notes; you can throw them away.

The purpose is to pour out your unspoken thoughts and get rid of them so they wouldn’t bother you anymore.

2) Morning Pages

Writer and researcher of creativity Julia Cameron is primarily known for her book The Artist’s Way, offering a series of exercises for creators to overcome their blocks and doubts.

One of the exercises, Morning Pages, suggests the following:

Once you’ve awakened, the first thing to do in the morning is write three pages of your stream of consciousness. It can be unfinished sentences or incoherent text. Write everything that comes to mind: feelings, fears, plans for the day, reflection on past events, dreams, etc.

It may be challenging at first, and your pages will be full of something like, “I don’t know what to write,” but it will get easier with time.

Cameron suggests not to re-read your notes. Do your best to keep such a diary for at least 12 weeks, and then you can reduce the frequency and number of your morning pages.

3) Letters

Contacts with other people impact our thoughts and mental health tremendously. (Sometimes, it takes years to get over conflict situations, constantly having a mental dialogue with their participants.)

Not to accumulate these emotions in yourself, you can write letters to those people. These letters will remain in your diary, and you don’t have to send them anywhere.

Write to your parents about what you are hesitant to say in person. Write to your bossy manager who ruined your day. Write to the lost love or someone you never dared to tell about your feelings.

A good practice would be to write a letter to someone who has offended or annoyed you before meeting them in person. If someone makes you anxious, write them the most honest and sincere letter you can. Describe what hurt you, what you felt, and how it affected you.

This technique helps forgive and let all negativity go.

4) List of achievements

Many people, especially those under stress or depression, focus on what didn’t work out rather than what they did great. Such thinking is draining and often makes you procrastinate or abandon all plans.

Start a diary to write down all your achievements daily (or at least once a week). Everything works here:

You cleaned windows, went jogging, helped a neighbor, finished a project before a deadline, and found the strength to apologize — write it all down.

Alternatively, if you already keep a diary or a to-do list with tasks, you can write down your achievements and sum up the results at the end of the week.

5) The Depression Workbook

American researcher Mary Ellen Copeland has received several awards for her contributions to programs helping people with mental illnesses. The Depression Workbook is among them: It’s a practical guide with research-based self-help strategies to relieve depression, and its second edition is available on Amazon.

However, you can craft a personal workbook on self-care and do some of the essential exercises from those suggested by Copeland:

• Write down the reasons why you want and need to live.
• Make a list of memories that make you smile.
• Outline your most significant achievements in life. (It may be awards or things like, “I started to deliver garbage for recycling.”)
• Think carefully and list what triggers your anxiety attack, stress, or bad mood.
• Make a list of things that usually make you feel better.
• Describe what you are when you feel good: how you feel or think about the world and yourself.

Such a workbook aims to help you relieve stress and learn how to control your mental state. Knowing your triggers makes it easier to learn to avoid them or figure out how to deal with them.

After completing all the assignments, it’s worth re-reading the workbook sometimes.

Final thoughts

Not only does journaling help you organize thoughts and record ideas, but it’s also scientifically proven to relieve stress, help you self-reflect, and positively impact your overall mental health. Why not start keeping a diary today and see what benefits this practice can give you?