Journal therapy

Journal therapy is a type of writing therapy that focuses on the writer's internal experiences, thoughts and feelings. Journal therapy uses reflective writing so that the writer can receive mental and emotional clarity, validate experiences and come to a deeper understanding of him or herself. Journal therapy can also be used to express difficult material or access previously inaccessible material.

Like other forms of therapy, journal therapy can be used to heal a writer's emotional or physical problems or work through a trauma, such as illness, addiction, relationship problems etc.

Journal therapy can be added to therapy, or can take place in group therapy or self-directed therapy.

Psychoanalysts and psychotherapists such as Sigmund Freud, Marion Milner, Carl Jung and Ira Progoff have all used journaling, autobiography and other types of writing for personal insights, and to develop their own theories. Journal writing began in 1966 in New York and was started by Ira Progoff. Progoff created the intensive journal method, a structured way of writing about life that allows the writer to achieve spiritual and personal growth. This method consisted of a three-ring, loose-leaf binder with four color-coded sections: lifetime dimension, dialogue dimension, depth dimension and meaning dimension. These sections are divided into several subsections. Some of these subsections include topics like career, dreams, body and health, interests, events and meaning in life. Progoff created the intensive journal so that working in one part of the journal would in turn stimulate material to work in another part of the journal, leading to different viewpoints, awareness and connection between subjects. The Intensive Journal Method began with recording in a daily log.

The field of journal therapy reached a wider audience in the 1970s because of the publication of three books. The three books were Progoff's At a Journal Workshop (1978), Christina Baldwin's One to One: Self-Understanding Through Journal Writing (1977) and Tristine Rainer's The New Diary (1978).

In 1985, psychotherapist and one of the pioneers of journal therapy, Kathleen Adams, started providing journal workshops, designed as a self-discovery process.

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