[hartbroken]

We who take some medicines for mental illness as a result have to deal with bottled up emotions on a different level than people who don't take any meds. I know my medicine Lithium has caused bottled up emotions because it causes a blunt or flat affect that makes expressing feelings difficult.

I've just been realizing this is a severe problem as a result. You can hurt yourself or others by bottling up your emotions. And for the longest time, pastors, counselors and friends have been telling me it's not what you feel, it's what you know to think or do. Well, they are misinformed on the importance of expressing emotions on a healthy level.

I googled "bottled up emotions" and found that journaling can help a lot. I always have been told to journal, but I didn't because I didn't have a specific reason why I was journaling. Now I can journal my complaints, my bottled up emotions, the things that drive me crazy each day. I'm going to keep that journal separate from my positive journal. I'm hoping this relieves some of the gut pains and stomach anxieties by simply getting the toxic feelings out.

[gary290]

Hello hartbroken: Journaling has been helpful to me as well. That's why I post on this site - kind of a release of the feelings.

Gary290

[Leed]

Even BEFORE I was on an anti-depressant, I used to bottle up emotions. Usually because no one would listen to me anyway.

So I'd write down what I was feeling, and why. I'd try writing every day, and it did help. Journaling is a good way to express emotions whether you're on medications or not!

i wrote a lot while in grade school and later into college. back then i had the time and the quiet to write. now, however, there is constant noise (kids, both at home and at work) and i can hardly hear myself think.

it's funny, i've just made a connection: i have fits of rage now that i never used to have, back when i used to write in my journal. i don't write anymore, and it's all still stuck in there, pissing me off and poisoning me from the inside out. i'm not taking meds, though. take that as you will.

[spondiferous]

The first time I started struggling with mental illness (at 17/18) I started journalling because I couldn't figure out what else to do with the anger and the fear. And I journalled hardcore for a number of years after that, but then I stopped, mostly due to a life of addiction. In recovery I have continued, somewhat sporadically. I had a journal entry yesterday that was very therapeutic for me. I find it a great tool for me to deal especially with anger, or hopelessness, or being fed up.

[myonlyjoy]

Journaling has helped me a lot; especially if I'm feeling lonely. I've been doing it for about 10 years.

I've been journaling since junior high school and it has helped me too. In fact, journaling lead me to writing poetry later on. Since I'm not in therapy or really have anyone to talk to about what's on my mind I found that it was all I could do.

[birdpumpkin]

I journal, too, because I'm not in therapy as well and have no one to talk to about my problems and feelings. It helps to get things untangled, and sometimes things will come out of nowhere that I didn't realize I knew within me. Sometimes I'll have times I'll read back over what I wrote weeks later and think, "Did I write that?" It'll be like it came from another person.

If you do journal, be careful how you approach it. If I don't approach it in a more "clinical" way, the emotions tend to get MUCH worse. I specifically "journal" within the context of creative healing from the book The Artist's Way. It's pretty much about just writing down whatever is on your mind, whether that is feelings or in my case the other day, the shapes of colors.

[Kaiie76]

i've never had any professional help and journalling was the main thing i use to cope with emotions. i like to pretend im talking to another person, like my future self. ive been writing for about 6 years

it feels really nice, writing here at PC helps a lot too

[Voss]

Originally Posted by I.Am.The.End.

If you do journal, be careful how you approach it. If I don't approach it in a more "clinical" way, the emotions tend to get MUCH worse. I specifically "journal" within the context of creative healing from the book The Artist's Way. It's pretty much about just writing down whatever is on your mind, whether that is feelings or in my case the other day, the shapes of colors.

I think this is good advice. I found that journaling was really just a form of rumination for me, because I tend to organize and edit anything I write and so could spend an hour or more on a long entry. Without journaling, I'm typically off thinking about something else within the hour.

I channel a lot of my feelings into fiction, which is more exploratory and can involve research.