do u bring your journal to therapy?

i've kept a journal my whole life. i have kept about 8 of them since i was 16.

i started to write into my journal and thought it would be a good idea for T to see it, so i photocopied it and put it in his mailbox. i showed him my journal for a while and then he bought me two journals saying that-

his therapist gave him two journals once, and what u do is write in one and give it to T and then keep the other, and just keep rotating them.

so we do that, have been for 2 years now. sometimes i find that it affects what i write, like i sometimes choose to censor myself, so i also express myself too completely filter free on an online journal that i keep locked.

do you/ have u ever brought your journals to therapy?
what emotions does it bring up for u?

((i think writing down things for my T helps me a LOT because sometimes i struggle to express my self as well orally))

I don't have a journal for every day use, but I can sort my thoughts a lot easier when I write it down. So if my mind is full and running a million miles an hour, I can write pages of stuff. If it's things I want to talk about with t, I bring it with me the next time I see her and if I get stuck and can't talk, I just hand her my journal.

It's sometimes a little strange just sitting there while she reads it, but if I start to panic, she stops and checks with me that it's okay for her to keep reading. In the end, it makes things a lot easier because we can discuss the topics that I struggle to bring up.

I don't bring my journal to therapy and have never shared an entry in it with my T. My journal is super personal and I wouldn't ever share it with another person. I have shared poems I've written with my T before, though. I do use my journal to process things, sometimes things that come up in therapy. I think writing and processing in my journal helps me make swifter progress toward where I want to go in my life. It's a great tool for self exploration and that can only help me and my therapy too.

I write with the purpose of sharing my thoughts with my t. Otherwise, I get to the session and my mind goes completely blank.

hi blue mountains...
your mountians look familiar

I bring my journal to each session so I can refer to it while we are talking. I often write notes about things to point out in session. But my t is adamant that she won't read my journal or look at it. She knows that is my place to be 100% honest and if she reads it I might start censoring my writing. I have read to her from my journal, but I choose what to share and when.

I bring my journal to every session, and sometimes read portions of it to my T. I've never actually given it to her, and when I want to share something from it, she asks me to read it to her. Like Sconnie, I choose what I share and when. Sometimes, I just use it as a reference, sometimes, I will read parts of entries, and sometimes I read her entire entries. A lot depends on how difficult the topic is for me to discuss....reading what I wrote is sometimes easier.

T always reads mine. silently, but T asks whether to read it aloud or not in the beginning. i always say "In your head" and T nods and begins to read my journal.

sometimes T makes comments to me and if they are important T breaks eye contact from the pages and glances at me. to ask me about it.

sometimes T highlights portions, that's just what T does when he reads. T is a science geek, a chemistry undergrad, LOL. not all that irrelevant , though.

anyway, my emotions during this process are varying. sometimes if it's not about traumatic flash backs things stay prettty "light" if you will in the conversation. and we discuss whatever comes up easily.

but if they are about the flash backs i get nervous and feel judged. a lot of my flash backs are of sexual abuse and mind control AKA "light" brainwashing. i write to cope with these sometimes psychotic flashbacks to un wheel the film that has caught up in the projection.

i find it very helpful for T to understand my inner chaos and for me to express it so i dont act out destructively on the outside to myself/or others.

i draw and sketch it in them... color... put pictures. i have 2 very different ones, a black sketchbook (my fav) and one mayde of out all recycled papers. sometimes i can be completely candid in what i put in there but when it regards to my physical safety from myself, i find myself lying and not confiding about that because i know it will end me up in the hospital again.



thank u for ur time.

I bring my journal to every session. I also type out all my dreams and Active Imaginations and give her copies. We go through everything. I would love to be able to paint some of the things I see in active imaginations, i've tried to sketch them and i suck at drawing lol. but i love to write, so that's how i express myself.

cool, just practice drawing. it's a learned skill i started very young

i also like to do collages.

I have a journal that I have brought to therapy, with intent of sharing some things inside, because I tend to completely lock up when I get into therapy and I forget what I was going to talk about. However, I get very self-conscious and I fear judgement, so I end up just hiding the journal under the pillows, T asks about it, but never pushes me to share even though she knows I kind of want to/kind of don't. I am glad she is going to let me show things in my time...

The way you do your journaling with your T sounds great...! I like to sketch in mine too.

I bring mine to sesions with me T has read all of the most important entries

I take my journal w/ me to T. My T seems very interested and says she can tell where my left brain is competing w/ my right brain and this gives her insight into what is really going on and which truth is stronger. I just write and it ends up being pages and pages. Once I start I can't stop. I am not like that in verbally discussing things. I have more time to think threw properly what it is that I want to say I guess. No one is watching and I won't be judged for something I didn't mean to say caming out to strong.

T is my journal. My diary that listens. I email him journal entries and insights and struggles and whatever. He reads it all and usually responds. This is pretty much every day! He's awesome!

I have only just started writing mine yesterday, and I do intend on taking it with me next week when I go, I am not sure if I will change my mind though, I did tell her yesterday that I was going to start one

Sometimes, I bring pages for my therapist to read. I type my journal and usually edit the originals for her, because I tend to lament in it. We agreed this would not help.

Writing helps, especially since I am not a very articulate person.

i have a T journal that i write all my T about Tand life in general that i would want to share with my T .i rarely show it to her but she knows i have it and asks about it every once in a while