Do you keep a therapy journal?

Spirit of Trees · Jun 15, 2019 at 09:47 PM

In my case, I keep a journal so I can record notes about what happened during therapy and stuff about my mental illness. Mine's digital, since I live with family.

I find it useful since I think of questions/topics to ask my T before the next session. Sometimes I print out some of my notes, so I can refer to them in session.

Jun 15, 2019 at 09:58 PM

Yes, I do. Both a therapy journal and a dream journal. It's been helpful for me to go back and refer to different sessions I might not remember correctly.

After 7+ years I have a couple boxes of filled spiral notebooks...

kaleidoscopeheart · Jun 15, 2019 at 10:48 PM

Sort of? I try and write about my sessions as though I am an objective 3rd party...it reads like fiction but sometimes it helps me see things that I hadn't before.

Elio · Jun 15, 2019 at 11:24 PM

Yes. I write to my T. I give her my journal and she reads it between sessions.

feileacan · Jun 16, 2019 at 04:29 AM

I don't. First, because my sessions are so frequent (four days a week), so it would be really exhausting to write every day. Secondly, the material is really just repeating over and over again, with slightly different wording. Thirdly, the work we do is on a very deep level, so that anything that I would be able to write would be a pale reflection of what really happened and thus essentially incorrect by definition. I've tried to but I haven't experienced it to be useful. I find it more useful to keep the experiences and perceptions in a raw format in my mind.

ChickenNoodleSoup · Jun 16, 2019 at 04:58 AM

I write down everything I remember after each session. I don't write down things that happen between appointments or other things related to my mental health there.

I like to read what we've discussed again sometimes a day or two after a session or sometimes when I just need comfort. I tend to just read a random page from that journal and it calms me down.

Echos Myron redux · Jun 16, 2019 at 05:07 AM

I often use the In Session Today thread as a therapy journal. I often read my post back before my next session, and occasionally look back over really old posts.

Only trouble is, some weeks (like last week) I feel a little uncomfortable posting my session publicly, but I PMed with someone which was really, really helpful. I like to journal here because it also gives me an opportunity to discuss with a third party and process it all a bit.

Xynesthesia2 · Jun 16, 2019 at 06:35 AM

I like writing and did in the beginning, for a while, but did not get anything useful out of it even though it can obviously enrich and clarify things to write them out. I find it much more interesting and meaningful when I share bits and pieces of any kind of self exploration with peers that are interested in similar things, and not my own experiences alone but more in a conversation where I am not the only one (or main one) sharing. So this website can be good and I also have a good friend who lives in a different state and we email. But I quickly lose motivation for monologs and I don't tend to look at them again later. I am similar with most things about my life, rarely take photographs either, for example. So prefer my own mental storage and discussion.

When I was in therapy, I did prefer for my sessions and decided in advance what to bring up, sometimes made simple notes with bulletpoints to take to the appointment. I do the same for many other kind of meeting, so did not have a therapy-specific method.

DP_2017 · Jun 16, 2019 at 07:24 AM

With my long term T, I did yes. I am glad too because with him gone, it's been helpful at times (although painful) to go back and re-read the session recaps I wrote

With the other clowns, No. I don't care about them or our therapy enough to bother

WarmFuzzySocks · Jun 16, 2019 at 01:13 PM

I keep a journal. I do use it to jot down my impressions and memories of therapy sessions. I also review what I've written between sessions and make a list of what I might want to cover in the upcoming session. But mostly I use the journal as a tool to write about the thoughts, impressions, emotion, dreams that are related to the issues I'm dealing with in therapy. The journal feels like the place where a lot of the actual work happens, and therapy is a touchstone where I talk about questions, struggles, insights.

Similar to Echos, I sometimes go over my posts here in In Session or Dear T before a session, too, or make sure to jot those thoughts into my journal. There's something about putting the thoughts out here that is a little different than writing to myself.

stopdog · Jun 16, 2019 at 02:40 PM

I kept notes and recorded the appointments so that when the woman tried to deny things or rewrite history in her favor - I had evidence.

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Spirit of Trees Member Member Since May 2019 Location: Earth Posts: 189 4 111 hugs given	Jun 15, 2019 at 09:47 PM #1 In my case, I keep a journal so I can record notes about what happened during therapy and stuff about my mental illness. Mine's digital, since I live with family. I find it useful since I think of questions/topics to ask my T before the next session. Sometimes I print out some of my notes, so I can refer to them in session.
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Anonymous43207 Guest Posts: n/a	Jun 15, 2019 at 09:58 PM #2 Yes, I do. Both a therapy journal and a dream journal. It's been helpful for me to go back and refer to different sessions I might not remember correctly. After 7+ years I have a couple boxes of filled spiral notebooks...
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kaleidoscopeheart Member Member Since Apr 2017 Location: Parts Unknown Posts: 333 7 77 hugs given	Jun 15, 2019 at 10:48 PM #3 Sort of? I try and write about my sessions as though I am an objective 3rd party...it reads like fiction but sometimes it helps me see things that I hadn't before.
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Elio ............... Member Since Sep 2006 Location: in my head Posts: 2,911 17 8,779 hugs given	Jun 15, 2019 at 11:24 PM #4 Yes. I write to my T. I give her my journal and she reads it between sessions.
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ChickenNoodleSoup Grand Poohbah Member Since Apr 2017 Location: In a land far far away Posts: 1,574 7 1,304 hugs given	Jun 16, 2019 at 04:58 AM #6 I write down everything I remember after each session. I don't write down things that happen between appointments or other things related to my mental health there. I like to read what we've discussed again sometimes a day or two after a session or sometimes when I just need comfort. I tend to just read a random page from that journal and it calms me down.
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DP_2017 Grand Magnate Member Since Aug 2017 Location: A house Posts: 4,412 6 665 hugs given	Jun 16, 2019 at 07:24 AM #9 With my long term T, I did yes. I am glad too because with him gone, it's been helpful at times (although painful) to go back and re-read the session recaps I wrote With the other clowns, No. I don't care about them or our therapy enough to bother __________________ Grief is the price you pay for love.
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