Expressing my gratitude

Benefits of both expressive and gratitude journalling

Whether you are having a bad day, week or year it is extremely important to understand finding an outlet of some sort to help priorities your mental health is vital. In my own experience, I have found journalling to be one of the most beneficial yet underrated mental health interventions and so here at Dwell we have found and put together reliable evidence alongside personal anecdotes on the benefits of journalling to help you get started on your mental health journey. Free Diary with message and pen on table Stock Photo

In this blog we will be looking at the two different types of journalling in which assist in reducing the symptoms of anxiety and obsessive thinking disorders and encourage improved psychological well-being, your awareness and perception of events that may have occurred in your life and much more. These two forms of journalling are called expressive and gratitude journalling.(1) PositivePsychology highlights the importance of journalling in explaining it, “can help us accept rather than judge our mental experiences, resulting in fewer negative emotions in response to stressors”. I found in my own experience my anxiety and panic attacks stemmed from my lack of knowledge on how to deal and maintain my stress levels and triggers when thinking of specific traumatic or upsetting events that took place in my life. That is when I found expressive journalling.

Though the majority of short videos and blogs talk predominately about the benefits of gratitude journalling, I myself found it was hard to put myself in a place gratefulness when suffering from unresolved negative feelings I had obtained from particular events that had taken place in my life. I found in order to begin my journey of gratitude journalling, I had to put onto paper the feelings that were weighing me down first. After finding myself a little book with blank pages waiting for me to fill, I would find myself losing hours upon hours to expressive journalling. In my case, I was journalling predominately about traumatic events I had faced, however expressive writing is open to just about anything you feel you need to express.

I had been writing things about myself and my experiences I hadn’t properly realised were effecting me so greatly at that time. When you’re unsure of your own feelings and perception of events, it can be quite daunting and difficult to open up to other people about what’s going on and therefore allowing yourself to dissect and understand your feelings for yourself first is extremely important and the best most effective way to do so is through expressive journalling.

Once I had taken the time to express the overwhelming feelings I had been facing, I had felt a huge weight lifted off my shoulders and even found myself having the strength to recognise different things from specific events, relationships, etc. that I could be grateful for and therefore see the things I once deemed as strictly negative and horrible in perhaps a different light. I could then begin gratitude journalling.

The practice of both expressive and gratitude journalling has multiple benefits on our mental and physical health. UclaHealth.Org (2) talks about the health benefits thankfulness has on our physical wellbeing as well as our mental health, showing responses of over 26,000 participants through several different studies that prove there is an association between gratitude journalling and lower levels of depression along with improved sleep, supporting heart health and overall better psychological well-being. In my experience talked about above, I found it was easier to get myself to a place of gratitude by initially working through my innermost emotions and thoughts through expressive journalling, however it is different for everyone. I challenge you to set aside however long feels comfortable and best suited to you to practice one or both these two types of writing and see for yourself whether or not this mental health intervention helps you.

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