By Anonymous April 2, 2018 - 8:16am

Journaling is increasingly being recommended to patients with depression as a way to deal with the symptoms and emotions associated with the condition. Studies also suggest that writing helps boost the effects of therapy for people suffering from depression. While writing in a journal can't replace traditional mental health treatment for depression, it can certainly work in conjunction with it as a complementary therapy. Here's how to ease depression by writing in a journal.

Increases Awareness
The primary benefit of journaling is that it allows you to get in touch with yourself and your emotions. As you write, you'll notice thoughts and feelings coming to the surface that you may not have paid any attention to before. You might find that you come across worries or emotions that are contributing to your depression and understanding them allows you explore and deal with them.

Gives You Control
Many people with depression report that writing in a journal helps them control their emotions and getting them down on paper calms the chaos in their brains. Seeing the issues in black and white offers a sense of manageability and aids in learning how to deal with them. Often, recording emotions and thought helps create perspective and allows you to discern patterns that can help in your treatment. Sometimes patients may find they have a blockage. Not exactly a writer's block but an inability of knowing how or where to start. Anyone finding themselves in this position can find tips and tricks at tips and tricks at a writing website.

Changes Your Viewpoint
According to the experts at WebMD, using a journal increases your ability when it comes to using positive self-talk. This means that you are able to retrain your brain to focus on good thoughts when your depression symptoms flare. Specifically, gratitude or affirmation journals are especially helpful for shifting thinking from negative to positive. Recording things you're thankful for and writing down positive affirmations can help you do this.

Helps You Detect Patterns
One of the best things about a journal is that it helps you detect and track patterns. You may begin to notice things that trigger your depression as well as things that make you feel better. For example, you may see that certain times day, certain places, certain people or certain circumstances cause your symptoms to flare. This helps your mental health specialist see the nuances of your condition and help you find appropriate ways to treat your depression.

Gives You an Outlet
Often, depression leads to isolation, which means you don't have anyone close to share your thoughts and feelings with. Having your journal gives you an outlet that lets you vent, talk about what you're dealing with and come up with solutions to issues you're having. A journal shouldn't replace a healthy support system, but it can help you work through your emotions and the symptoms of your depression in instances when you happen to be alone.

Helps You Create an Action Plan
While you should never treat depression on your own or avoid seeing a professional, you should take control of your treatment by using your journal to record ways that you might want to explore in terms of easing your symptoms. As you begin to detect patterns in your condition, you can record things that help so that you can use them in the future and talk to your mental health specialist to explore them further.

Tips for Journaling
If you plan to give journaling a try to treat your depression, it's a good idea to have some tips on the best ways to use your writing. The experts recommend writing regularly - about 20 minutes per day. Try to stay away from writing about negative thoughts and events and focus on the positive. If you feel like recording negative things helps, try to only commit a few minutes to it and then move to the positive. Use a pen and paper or try journaling on your tablet or laptop if that works better for you.

Journaling is a great idea for most people who suffer from depression. However, you don't want to rely on it as your only way to treat depression. Spending too much time in your journal can put you in your own head, which can exacerbate your symptoms.