Is Journaling a Good Way to Relieve Stress?
Ongoing research continues to uncover the benefits of journaling. In this 7-minute read, we explore a 2002 study that examined how journaling can help relieve stress.
What is journaling and how can it help?
Journaling involves writing about your life’s ups and downs. It can improve your mental, emotional and physical health, reduce GP visits and boost your immunity.
Theories about journaling
As journaling becomes more popular, different ideas about how it helps have emerged:
- Expressing feelings: One theory says that writing about your feelings can improve your emotional and mental health. If you don’t express your feelings, it can harm your wellbeing.
- Thoughts and feelings together: Another theory suggests that writing about both your thoughts and feelings helps you handle life’s challenges better. This combined approach might help us handle stress better.
So, does the way we write about stressful events - focusing on feelings, focusing on just the facts, or writing about both - impact our health?
A key study on journaling
Researchers Philip M. Ullrich and Susan K. Lutgendorf wanted to find out if the way we journal affects our health. They conducted a study with 175 college students, dividing them into three groups:
1. Emotional Expression Group: Wrote about their feelings.
2. Cognition and Emotion Group: Wrote about both their thoughts and feelings.
3. Control Group: Didn’t write about their feelings or thoughts.
What Ullrich and Lutgendorf found
- Positive growth over time: The group that wrote about both thoughts and feelings reported positive growth over time. This means they became more aware and stressed less by organising their memories of stressful events.
- Time alone doesn’t help: Simply waiting for time to pass doesn’t help you grow from stressful events.
- Negative emotions can harm: The group that only wrote about their feelings reported more physical illness. They used more negative words, which can be linked to more doctor visits and stress.
- Combination is best: The study showed writing about both thoughts and feelings helps the most with stress relief and positive growth.
My take on the results
In my workshops, people often ask if they should just write about their feelings or unwanted thoughts. Some describing journaling as “a mind dump”. I believe this study shows that the best approach is to write about both thoughts and feelings.
When we journal during tough times, we become more aware of our emotions and thoughts. This helps us gain insights, challenge old patterns, and grow mentally and emotionally. We move forward in more positive ways.
Recap
Ullrich and Lutgendorf’s study shows that detailed journaling about thoughts and feelings relieves stress and helps us grow. Reflecting on difficult events over time can also lead to positive growth.
In my journaling workshops, I emphasise that regular journaling about thoughts, emotions, and stresses makes your journal a powerful tool for wellbeing and stress relief.