Draggers...you so just nailed it right on the head! Being able to get things out after a session so I and li'l one don't carry it all around with us until we see her again. Hmmmmm...I also like li'l one having her own book to write. I think that would really help and in her own hand using crayons. Luv it! Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!



The Kid and li'l one

Hi Kid,
I have found journaling really helpful. I was reluctant at first when T suggested it.. But now I try to write something everyday. I find I can sleep better after I have written down what is going round and round in my head. It seems to break the cycle so that I can step back a little. I have also fouond it helps when I am confused about my feelings and I can look back and see how they are changing. I deliberatly write small and untidyly so that noone else could possibly read it. I have never shown my journal to T, but I sometimes write summaries for her. I find it easier to do this and show it to her than to try to remember how I was feeling through out the week. I also don't drive myself crazy rehersing what I want to tell T in case I forget something!
Try it for a while!

Hiya,

I think l'il one having a special book sounds like a great idea. Perhaps you could get some resources like stickers or glitter or whatever she might like to use to express herself.

I have been encouraged to journal my sessions. I think some people use it to keep a record of what was discussed, or any new learning so they don't forget it. I kind of do that.

I don't really journal every session but I do tend to use it as a dumping ground if I have a particularly heavy session, or if I want to work out how I am going to say something. Or if I am feeling confused about how therapy is going. Sometimes I have arguments with myself in there about revealing what I am feeling. I do find it a relief to just get it out. I don't use paper, just a word document on my computer.

I do have issues with self-censoring. I haven't quite figured out exactly why. Sometimes it is a worry about people reading it. I think it is also sometimes because writing it down makes it real and it means I can't hide from it. Generally though I'd say it helps me.

Hi TK

I have had intensive psychoanalytic therapy for years and despite multiple sessions a week, journalling has been crucial to maintaining sanity between sessions.

Not only does it help you to have a safe space to pour your heart and fears into, writing also helps with re-wiring memories of trauma in the brain so that they are stored differently with less affective charge around them.

And I love Draggers idea of having a separate book for little TK

hugs xx

I journal multiple times a week - it saves my sanity sometimes! I too, had the experience of childhood/adolescent journals being read, so I was extremely careful in finding a new venue for my journals.

After months of research, I found an online journal that uses the same grade of security and encryption as military bases use. After spending a few days using the free version, I spent the $20 USD and bought the paid version. The only difference is with the paid version you can write in your journal on tablets or phones, (again, extremely secure and double password protected, actually) which was worth it to me, cause often time after T I'll sit in my car and jot down some notes before I lose them.

I'll also read over my journals from the week and compile either a list, or write a short letter to T (shared sometimes) so I have a bit of direction to the session. I've found it helpful!

Here's the link to the journal I use, Penzu, if you use it, you'll get 20% off if you choose to use the pay version

Hi TK
I use a journal which started out as a result of being on a course where I had to keep one (professional course), then T suggested I started write a pre-class entry and post class as well and start carting it round with me. Bit reluctant too at first, but all sorts of stuff has come out on the page from poems to pictures to single words and multi-coloured entries...and a lot of it has been useful for T and me to work on like especially when I go mute. I have been able to express some things on paper, I can not say out loud. Other times its like the writing shows I have gotten more understanding of something, its like it can help me sort out that scrambled eggs for brains and help me work out what I am thinking. T reads only the bit I give her and even asks if I want her to read it out loud or want her to read to herself. We don't use it all the time but it really helps sometimes to get T stuff out of the headspace until next session.
Pingles

Hi TK,

I truly cannot imagine my life and healing journey without journaling. While I have seen ebbs and flows at times (with less journaling per se), it has been absolutely crucial for me to process not only what is going on in session, but what comes up between times.

I also love the idea of the journal for li'l one. One suggestion I'd like to offer is the whole idea of dialoguing. In fact, I am personally going to do that today. It helps give voice to all of you--in your case, adult you and li'l one. It's like having a conversation on paper. You can pick a theme you want to talk to li'l one about, or else, if she is really upset, angry, sad, or whatever, to talk about that together. It's very free flowing and as best as you can try not to censor things. For me, this technique has really helped to give my parts inside a voice to some things that I didn't even know were there. I simply will use initials like AA (adult amber) and LA (little amber), etc., but yuo can also use different colors or dominant/non-dominant hand.

Another powerful part of the journaling for me has been seeing my progress over time. I have close to 15+ journals (Not to mention the wads of stuff I have written via email and "homework assignments" for Ts), and sometimes when something comes up with T, I will remember how that came up previously (maybe years earlier with a different T), and I go back and find what I have written. It is amazing to see how so often what has come up is just a deeper processing of my stuff, and there were also some very crucial insights I have forgotten about. It can be tremendously encouraging to see that while I still struggle so much, I have also grown so much, and my journals are testaments to that for myself when I am in those despairing places.

As far as security, I keep them in a fireproof 'safe' box (locakable with a combination), except for the current journal in use.

One final comment to say about your fears of doing journaling is that are already doing it, TK! You have posted a lot on this forum during the short time you have been here, and been very open and able to express what is inside. So how much more so in your own bona fide journal, where you can say ANYTHING?!!!!

Hope it goes well for you and li'l one

Wow!! What great suggestions! So many aspects I didn't know about... Thank you, everyone. I'm glad I asked the question cuz it sometimes feels like I live in such a small, sheltered world and just go blindly on my way. Need to open the lens / shutter more.

Working on it.

The Kid and li'l one

Hi TK... I'm late to this thread but I want to echo what Amber said about how helpful it is to go back to my journals to see the progress I have made even when it seems I'm going backwards! It also serves to remind me how well T and I work together and how solid our relationship is when it begins to feel shaky to me. Sometimes I just forget the wonderful things he has done for me and how much we have done together.

My T has always told me the best gift I could ever give to him is my getting well and growing. So for the past two Christmases I have written him a long letter that talks about what we have accomplished during that year together. My journals come in handy for doing that. He loves the letters. They make him very happy and it's a good exercise for me as well.

I journal in word documents that I keep secure with a password. I begin new documents every so often and email them as attachments to my yahoo email so they are stored someplace else aside from my own hard drive on my computer. This has worked well for me.

I encourage you to journal and love the idea of having lil' one journal too. I may have to try that someday with my kid too.

Hugs
TN

I want to second and third everything that everyone has said. I have journaled for years and years. It is my way of understanding everything about what is going on inside my head and body. It puts words to my feelings. I know, without a doubt, that I have made substantially more progress in my therapy than I would have otherwise because I write about my thoughts and feelings and dreams in between sessions. It feels awful and wonderful and cathartic and it's the truth in black and white which is liberating.

It has given a voice to the little girl inside of me who never was allowed to have one. It is truly life-changing.

I encourage you to do it if you can.

quote:

Originally posted by True North:
So for the past two Christmases I have written him a long letter that talks about what we have accomplished during that year together. My journals come in handy for doing that. He loves the letters. They make him very happy and it's a good exercise for me as well.

Okay TN, this is a GREAT idea and I may have to steal it!