Do Psychologists Recommend Journaling? Which Kinds, and How Much It Helps

Yes — but psychologists recommend particular kinds of journaling, done in particular ways, not journaling in general. The four with the most research behind them are expressive writing about a difficult experience, gratitude journaling, positive affect journaling, and thought records used in cognitive behavioural therapy. Each has evidence. In each case the effects are real but modest, and the instructions matter more than most articles admit.

I make a video journal app, so it would suit me to say psychologists recommend journaling of every kind. They don't, and the specifics are more useful than the slogan.

What "recommended by psychologists" actually means

There isn't a single professional recommendation to "keep a journal." I couldn't find a blanket endorsement from a professional body, and you should be wary of articles that imply one. What exists is a set of techniques developed and tested by psychologists, each with its own instructions and its own evidence.

When a therapist suggests journaling, they're usually suggesting one of these:

Expressive writing: the most studied, with the smallest headline

Expressive writing started with James Pennebaker and Sandra Beall in 1986. Students wrote for 15 minutes on four consecutive days, either about a traumatic experience or about trivial topics. Those who wrote about their deepest thoughts and feelings made fewer visits to the campus health centre over the following months.

Hundreds of studies followed. The largest meta-analysis, by Joanne Frattaroli in Psychological Bulletin (2006), pooled 146 randomised studies and found a positive, significant average effect of r = .075. That's small — real, but small. It also varied a lot depending on who was writing, about what, and how.

What psychologists recommend, then, is quite specific:

• Short-course, not forever. Three or four sessions, then stop. It's a tool for working through something, not a lifestyle.
• Thoughts and feelings, not just feelings. In Ullrich and Lutgendorf's 2002 study in Annals of Behavioral Medicine, people who journaled about both their thoughts and their emotions around a stressful event became more aware of positive things that came out of it than people who wrote about emotions alone. Venting isn't the active ingredient; making sense of it seems to be.
• Stop if it's too much. Expressive-writing guidelines include a "flip-out rule", as John Evans, Pennebaker's co-author, sets it out: if writing about something feels like it will push you over the edge, stop.

Gratitude journaling: modest, well-replicated, easy

The founding study is Emmons and McCullough's "Counting blessings versus burdens" (2003) in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology. Across three studies, people kept weekly or daily lists — some of things they were grateful for, others of hassles or neutral events. The gratitude groups showed higher wellbeing on several, though not all, of the measures, with the clearest effect on positive mood.

The practical recommendation that came out of this work is simple: a few specific things, written regularly. Specific beats general — "my sister called when she knew I was nervous" does more work than "my family."

Positive affect journaling: tested with patients

Positive affect journaling asks you to write about positive experiences, things you're looking forward to, and your own strengths. In a 2018 randomised trial in JMIR Mental Health, Joshua Smyth and colleagues assigned 70 adults with medical conditions and elevated anxiety to either online positive affect journaling — 15 minutes, three days a week, for 12 weeks — or usual care. The journaling group reported fewer symptoms of depression and anxiety after the first month and more resilience after the first and second months.

The authors call it preliminary, and 70 people is small. It's still one of the few trials of journaling in a medical population, and it's encouraging.

Thought records: journaling as part of therapy

In cognitive behavioural therapy, the most common written exercise is the thought record. When your mood drops, you note the situation, the automatic thought that went through your head, the emotion and how strong it was, then the evidence for and against the thought, and a more balanced alternative. It's described in standard CBT texts such as Judith Beck's Cognitive Behavior Therapy: Basics and Beyond.

It's a different kind of journal: structured, short, and usually used alongside a therapist who helps you read it. If a therapist has given you thought records, do those rather than a free-form diary.

When journaling can backfire

Psychologists have also found ways journaling doesn't help, and they're rarely mentioned:

• Overanalysing good things. In Lyubomirsky, Sousa and Dickerhoof's 2006 studies, writing or talking about a bad experience improved wellbeing compared with just thinking about it. But for the happiest experience, the pattern reversed: people who simply replayed it in their heads ended up more satisfied with life than those who wrote or talked about it, and analysing it in writing did worst. Savour good days; don't dissect them.
• Going in circles. Writing the same worry every night without making sense of it is closer to rumination than processing. If entries keep repeating, change the question.
• Writing as a substitute for help. The effects above are small. They're not a reason to put off seeing someone.

What about video journaling?

Almost none of this research involves video, which is why the evidence for video journaling is thin. The closest is the Lyubomirsky study above, where one group talked into a tape recorder instead of writing, and did about as well as the writers for a bad experience. I've gone through that and the other nearby evidence in a separate piece: what psychologists say about video journaling.

FAQ

Do therapists recommend journaling?

Often, but usually a specific kind: expressive writing about a difficult experience, a gratitude list, or a CBT thought record. Each has its own instructions and evidence. There's no single professional recommendation to 'keep a journal' in general.

What type of journaling is best for mental health?

It depends on the aim. Expressive writing has the most research for working through a difficult experience, gratitude journaling for mood, and thought records for spotting unhelpful thinking alongside therapy. The effects are real but modest.

How long should you journal each day according to research?

Expressive writing studies typically used 15–20 minutes on three or four days, then stopped. Positive affect journaling was tested at 15 minutes, three times a week. Gratitude studies used short lists, weekly or daily. None of them tested open-ended daily journaling for years.

Can journaling make you feel worse?

It can. Writing about something overwhelming can raise distress in the short term, and expressive-writing guidelines advise stopping if it feels too much. One set of studies also found that analysing your happiest experiences in writing lowered wellbeing compared with simply replaying them.

Sources

• Pennebaker, J. W., & Beall, S. K. (1986). Confronting a traumatic event: Toward an understanding of inhibition and disease. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 95(3), 274–281.
• Frattaroli, J. (2006). Experimental disclosure and its moderators: A meta-analysis. Psychological Bulletin, 132(6), 823–865.
• Ullrich, P. M., & Lutgendorf, S. K. (2002). Journaling about stressful events: Effects of cognitive processing and emotional expression. Annals of Behavioral Medicine, 24(3), 244–250.
• Evans, J. F. (2012, August 15). Expressive writing. Write Yourself Well, Psychology Today. See also Pennebaker, J. W., & Evans, J. F. (2014). Expressive Writing: Words That Heal. Idyll Arbor.
• Emmons, R. A., & McCullough, M. E. (2003). Counting blessings versus burdens: An experimental investigation of gratitude and subjective well-being in daily life. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 84(2), 377–389.
• Smyth, J. M., Johnson, J. A., Auer, B. J., Lehman, E., Talamo, G., & Sciamanna, C. N. (2018). Online positive affect journaling in the improvement of mental distress and well-being in general medical patients with elevated anxiety symptoms: A preliminary randomized controlled trial. JMIR Mental Health, 5(4), e11290.
• Beck, J. S. (2020). Cognitive Behavior Therapy: Basics and Beyond (3rd ed.). Guilford Press.
• Lyubomirsky, S., Sousa, L., & Dickerhoof, R. (2006). The costs and benefits of writing, talking, and thinking about life's triumphs and defeats. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 90(4), 692–708.

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