journaling vs telling your therapist

just wondering how people decide between the two. i rarely write out my own reflections just for myself - if i'm writing, it's because i want someone to read.

austin-t has suggested it might be useful for me to journal. and i've currently got a situation where i need to contain my thoughts somehow and i really want to write austin-t an email instead. i don't want him to reply by email or phone, and i think it's something i can even handle by myself (for now), so the only reason to email him is because i want it to be contained somewhere other than just by myself.

i've only emailed austin-t once before, so it's not like i'm abusing the privilege. but i'm wondering if journaling is more appropriate here instead. pdoc would tell me that he'd prefer i told him than kept everything to myself -- that wanting to share is a sign of progress for me -- but i dont want to tell pdoc because i know this particular issue is one that's painful for him.

my T wants me to write things down and bring it to therapy.i have tried this and hate it because of reading it so even when i try to do this i usually fail miserably at being able to give it to her.i do journal a lot atleast a few times a say if not more .sometimes this is also a problem for me because i also know i use it as a way to not talk to people to vent all my feeling to myself and paper and it bothers no one.exsept my husband because i am avoididng talking to him also.it can be a great tool for me because it does allow me to just get throught the day sometimes but other times it can really get me more worked up depending what is going on in my head at the time.im sure my T would rather me talk then journal sometimes because she knows it is another way for me to stay in my head and avoid the rest of the world

Hmmm. For me, journalling is much better than telling T face to face. I don't know about you or other people, but I not only work on different levels but each level comes with a different degree of perception. That's pretty opaque so let me explain. If I'm face to face with someone with my eyes open, even with T, I'm quite a bit farther away from my insides than in other situations and less able to feel out my real thoughts and feelings. Moving toward my insides, then there's the situation of me alone, typing at my computer and journalling. Moving still closer to my insides, there are all the thoughts and feelings of complete dark, in the middle of the night.

So, journalling permits me to access parts of me that aren't available with T. And also to deal with issues at greater length and with more detail. Every week I put together quite a number of pages of journal and print them out before going to see T and hand them over. She then decides, provided I agree, what to start with on that particular day, whether something from the journal or something else she thinks we need to talk about. In fact, I really couldn't conceive of working effectively with T without journalling. To me, it's an essential part of therapy. And my T does not want me to email my journals to her because on her end other people have access to the computer. So she definitely wants me to hold it for T day and give it to her then.

Understand, deliquesce, all I'm doing is telling you what I do. It may not apply to your situation at all. But I do think that journalling is a very positive tool that's easy to use and available to all. Take care!

I do both - journal and tell my T. But, I journal much more than I tell my T...mostly because I can journal every day if I want. When I get to a session there's no way we can cover all that, so I hit the highlights, or use it to help me talk about difficult things.

I've always journaled off and on at different points in my life. I started really journaling again a little before I started seeing my current T. Reading her some of my entries made it easier for me to talk about some things. She remarked on the depth of feeling and insight I convey in my writing, and encouraged me to keep journaling. I have, and I've found that it really does help. My anxieties don't build up quite as much when I write regularly.

I tend to journal in two different ways. When I'm ranting and just need to get emotions and thoughts out, I tend to type - either in draft emails which I can later delete (or send to my T if I need to) or in just a word editor. If it's a draft email, I never send it right away, I let it sit for at least 24 hours then decide if I want to reflect on it further by writing in my journal, delete it, or send to my T. When I'm reflecting on things, trying to put my thoughts in order, or recording important events, I write in a journal. Writing makes me think, typing lets me just get stuff out without really having to think about it.

I journal a LOT. T gives me journaling as homework, both on a specific subject that she wants me to get deep into as well as my reaction to the session. If there were things I wanted to say but couldn't I use journaling to say them, usually things to do with attachment/reactions to what she said/did/. I use journaling as my deep thinking tool, for analysis and introspection, sometimes to jump-start a conversation I want to have with T, too.
Disclosures though I use spoken words for.....like abuse, say. I just can't write those words, even though it is hard to say them, too.....

I have specific homework assignments that I work on every week. Sometimes I get off track and write about other things. I type out my assignments and take them with me to my sessions. Depending on what I wrote, sometimes I have her read them out loud to me, other times I read them to her.

I was in therapy for about 6 months or so before I became comfortable enough to do this. It was hard for me to let her see my most intimate thoughts and struggles. Now that I have gotten used to it, it would be awkward not allowing her to see what I have written.

It has helped my therapy tremendously. We don't have the awkward silence as much. My journaling gives us plenty to talk about.

I once told my former T I was used to journaling, since I'm really shy and I can't talk to people about my stuff, so she decided it would be interesting if I brought it to therapy. It may have helped but the issue for me was that most times I ended up crying while I was reading out loud. I know that's not wrong per se, but maybe it was too much for me. The first few attempts to read my journal to T failed because I was so embarrased. I don't do this with my current T but I haven't dropped journaling because I've done it since my pre-teen years and it has actually helped me a lot. Of course, I only speak from my own experience.

I journal a lot and haven't told any t's because they haven't suggested or asked. There wouldn't be enough time to deal with the journal in t either.

I've never really written anything down until 6 months ago or so. Then I asked T if I could send her stuff I've written, because I really can't "journal" for "journaling's sake". I only really get things out when I know someone's going to read it. I guess what I'm trying to say is that it really has to be some sort of conversation, I can't just talk to myself. I sent her a real doozy a few days ago that should be good for 10-12 sessions' worth

Writing can help to clarify thinking. I remember an old German professor who wanted us to see, say, hear, and think in German. It worked so much better, having the words in front of us, saying, and thinking them. We really learned to think in German.

I think that ygrec has hit on this too. By writing you are looking at words and feeling things and seeing things more deeply than you do in just saying them. My husband and I fell in love when he was in California and I was in Michigan. We wrote long emails to each other daily. We expressed so many deeper feelings about life and what was happening because we were writing instead of dating and chatting about the movie or weather or sports, etc.

Writing can also be a tension release, if you don't have someone to talk to. My best friend does a lot of email drafts that eventually get deleted, never sent. If she is unhappy with someone, she tells them off in an email. Just never sends it--it stays in the draft box until she's gotten over whatever it was, and then she deletes it.

I've kept diaries and journals my whole life since I was 8 years old. However, most of my years in therapy were pre-email so I used to journal a lot. It was natural to express myself in writing and it was helpful to share some of it with my Ts.

When my current T told me it was all right to email, I decided I liked it much better than journaling. I am tired of communicating with myself; I've done too much of that through the years. I want to know that my T is reading what I write even if we don't discuss it in my session. Often we don't because she wants me to be present/mindful in the session, and not read my emails. If something is important, I will bring it up again.

So, I like telling my T and emailing better than journaling, but I think there's a place for both. I also like posting on PC better than journaling because people are reading it, too.

I used to journal but then I stopped years ago. T wants me to journal though and to do all of my homework in my journal as well...

I feel like I can be more honest and open in journaling. Writing seems to give me the voice that I sometimes lose in therapy. I tend to share the journals with my T if I know it's something I'm going to have a really hard time saying out loud. I also journal for myself...sometimes seeing the words on paper sheds a new light on them. That's what works for me anyway

((((((((((deli)))))))))))))

It helps me to write things down and send them to T.

Surprisingly, though, I've found that writing DOES serve as a kind of "container" for me, even when I don't sent it. I think because having things down in black and white gives them a "beginning" and an "end". It's not all floating around in my head, circling around and around and around and around on itself. I didn't think it would help, but it did.

I think that what helps about sending it to T is that it's DIFFERENT from what happened in the past. I am very used to being alone with the things that happened to me..but not to having someone else be a witness. There is something healing about being able to say "this happened, this happened, this happened" and to have someone ELSE hear it and keep me from being alone with it anymore.

Did you ask Austin-T if you could e-mail it to him?

I've been writing in a blog for over 2 years, which is basically journaling. But I also get feedback from the friends I have made through the blog. However about a month or two ago I decided that writing in the blog was taking the place of talking to people in real life, including my t. So I made the difficult decision to stop, or at least greatly reduce the blogging (from every day to once or twice a week). This has made a big difference in my therapy, because now I talk much more in t.

When I was writing in the blog, I felt like I was processing everything through the writing and the feedback and dialog with blog friends. By the time t day rolled around I didn't care to talk about the things that I wrote about, they felt "done". Which is good, but I felt it would be better for my personal development to process them "live" with a person actually in the room with me.

I miss blogging a lot, but I feel I am also growing a lot, and have accomplished more in the last 2 months of therapy than in the previous 2 years, because instead of writing I am talking.

Of course, this is only my experience, and it is different for everyone. It also took me 2 years to get to this point.

Journaling, for me, is a lot like dreaming; unexpected thoughts and ideas are likely to wander up from my unconscious. I then might tell T in session what I have learned or thought or I'll try something out with her, etc.

To me, they are same yet different. The T is a sounding board that can offer you tips and feedback. Journaling is more free, you can express yourself better there a lot of the times, I think. Both help you address what's on your mind.

this is kind of what i do with my journaling and dont share it with my T

I don't really write regularly in a journal about my life or what I'm feeling, I tried it for a while a few years ago but it just wasn't for me. However, about 2 months ago I started keeping a "therapy journal". I used to forget a lot of my sessions and it really bothered me because there was so much valuable information I wanted to remember. I decided to started writing down as much as I could remember every night I had therapy. It helps me really think and process each session and lets me go back and remember things my T says or does. It is also nice to take that quiet time once or twice a week to just sit, write and reflect.

My T and I talked about journaling and using it for therapy, but he didn't really think it would be useful for us since I don't have a problem communicating and what we have been doing is working for us. He said my journal is for ME, and I can bring it in to show him only if I want to share something I wrote.