Journaling instead of going to therapy

[Brandon Nankivell]

It is possible to identify traumas with the aid of journaling. Then holding on to them or letting them go will be your choice.

Some prompts I use:

• Why am I feeling X?
• What is the source of X?
• What is first memory in which I remember feeling X?
• What is the most potent memory in which I remember feeling X?
• What triggers X?
• What does feeling X or behaving X do for me?
• Would I like to keep holding on to X or let it go?

[shree]

Journaling can be therapeutic, but it's not a therapy.

From my experience, inner child dialogue which can be very powerful. It's a form of journaling. Combined with a few other things it can make miracles in your life.

[Letho]

@Basman f no.

I've never had therapy but I basically have an advanced+ degree in self-awareness, etc. 

If you don't have that, do both. 

I mean, just go and see a very good therapist to help with your journaling it'll only cost you a few hundred bucks and you'll be journaling 10X better than you otherwise would have. Do research and use your intuition on who's likely to help you on your path here.

Your path here obviously isn't meant to be go and see a therapist, its obviously to learn from a therapist as well as anything else you can do on how to develop your self-awareness so you don't need them anymore. So do that. Don't mess around with it, get it done.

You also have Meta-AI for example, just use that, then feedback loop your learning experience with an ACTUAL therapist and you'll NATURALLY continually grow from there. Don't think you're all crash hot and get overconfident, its so incredibly valuable to have feedback from extremely good insightful people/therapists, even if they're sometimes a little off, you use the feedback to grow regardless.

[Basman]

On 01/10/2024 at 11:00 AM, shree said:

Journaling can be therapeutic, but it's not a therapy.

From my experience, inner child dialogue which can be very powerful. It's a form of journaling. Combined with a few other things it can make miracles in your life.

Do you have any resources on inner child dialoging?

[shree]

58 minutes ago, Basman said:

Do you have any resources on inner child dialoging?

Check my public journal in the forum. I think one of my last posts explains it very well.

If you want to go deeper into it, I suggest Teal Swan's Self-Love course and Patrick Teahan.

 

[melchangelo]

What I’ve found is that feeling into your emotions is the most important. Really allow yourself to suffer from there the difference between pain and pleasure dissolves 

[Thought Art]

On 9/19/2024 at 6:08 AM, Basman said:

Is it possible to work out your neurosis, traumas, etc. through journaling instead of going to therapy? Therapy is expensive, inconvenient and often has long waiting lists. Obviously, I'm distinguishing from severe trauma that would typically be diagnosed in some way. Comparatively, I have light trauma.

Has anyone had any luck with working through their issues via journaling? What kind of prompts did you use? What was your process like?

No. You need a toolbox. When fixing a house if you only use a hammer you'll break things. Or, wont be able to fix everything.

[Espaim]

On 9/25/2024 at 10:37 AM, Basman said:

A lot of good resources. Thanks guys.

I can definitely see that argument, but therapy is essentially a lot of "how did that make you feel?" If you have the know-how, surely you can achieve a lot with just journaling in theory. Besides, I don't believe therapy is for everyone, like the initial research was based heavily off working with women for example.

Journaling can certainly help you with many issues you may face. I suggest you to do it if you do or do not go to therapy. Nonetheless, I'll add some thoughts here.
It seems like you have lumped "therapy" into a single thing but there are many approaches to it. Let me list some of the top of my head:
 

• Cognitive Behavioral Therapy
• Existential Therapy
• Psychoanalysis
• Gestalt Therapy
• Psychodrama
   

I bet some will have more of "how did that make you feel?" and others will be... Different. I suggest you research about it.
If you find some approach that interests you, don't fear trying it out. Sometimes it'll be hard to find a good match of an approach or professional for your individual needs but it can be helpful. And you can even bring your journal to help! At the end, the choice is yours.

[WritingHands]

The-rapists are useless

Pretty sure youre doing the better thing.

Actually what you stated is something that'd they do but you're doing it on your own for free

Edited October 24 by WritingHands

[Yimpa]

Journalling and therapy go hand-in-hand.