Why Journal Prompts Alone Don’t Do Enough to Relieve Anxiety
It was supposed to be a fun filled day, complete with a rivalry game. Going in to the sporting event, even before we left the hotel I could feel my anxiety building but I didn’t know why. We both knew that our team was not likely going to perform well, as there had been ups and downs in the young season already. So game performance anxiety wasn’t it.
When I arrived at the Cotton Bowl for the Red River Rivalry game I immediately knew why my anxiety was rising earlier. I was mentally prepared for a crowded football game; we do this multiple times a season. What I was not mentally prepared for was the 85,000 fans in the Bowl, plus the additional Texas State Fair fans also on the grounds.
It was wall to wall people - shoulder to shoulder - and people in your space inches from your face for quite some time as we tried to navigate the crowd to even get inside to our seats. Oddly enough, once we got to our seats, I felt better.
And to be honest - it didn’t matter that Texas blew out our beloved Sooners on that day, because I won simply by not having a panic attack on the way to our seats.
This was the incident that sparked this blog post, as I delve in to when journaling alone was not enough to help me curb my anxiety in a time of need.
Journaling is often recommended as a powerful tool for reducing anxiety. It provides an outlet for thoughts and feelings, giving you a chance to reflect and release tension. However, if you've tried journaling with the help of prompts and still find yourself trapped in an anxious spiral, you're not alone. Journal prompts, while helpful, don't always dig deep enough to address the root of anxiety or offer lasting relief.
The Promise of Journal Prompts
Journal prompts are designed to guide reflection, offering questions or themes that encourage self-awareness. They help provide structure, which can be beneficial for those who find the blank page intimidating. Prompts like “What are you grateful for today?” or “What’s a positive affirmation you need to hear?” aim to shift your focus away from negative thoughts, fostering mindfulness and self-care.
Yet, despite these benefits that I am grateful for, many people, myself included, find that journaling alone doesn’t offer a complete or enough of a solution to anxiety. From my experience, here's why:
1. Surface-Level Thinking
Journal prompts can sometimes encourage surface-level thinking, offering a temporary distraction rather than a deep dive into the causes of anxiety. For instance, reflecting on a single positive event from your day might give you a momentary boost, but it often doesn’t explore the underlying worries, fears, or triggers of your anxious feelings.
Anxiety often runs deeper than what a quick journaling session can unpack. It’s driven by complex thought patterns, past experiences, and sometimes physiological responses that require more than a few minutes of reflection. Journaling prompts may skim the surface, leaving unaddressed the underlying issues that are fueling your anxiety.
2. Lack of Practical Solutions
While journal prompts may ask how you feel, they don’t always help you figure out what to do. Anxiety often comes from a sense of helplessness, or feeling overwhelmed by things you cannot control. Writing about your emotions is valuable, but without practical next steps, journaling can sometimes reinforce that helplessness. For example, acknowledging stress around work deadlines is a good start, but without exploring how to manage your workload, break tasks into smaller steps, or set boundaries, the anxiety may persist.
3. Reinforcing Negative Loops
Some journal prompts, depending on how they're worded, can unintentionally deepen anxiety. For instance, if a prompt asks, "What is your biggest fear right now?" it may lead to ruminating on the negative, making the fear feel even more real or looming. Without careful framing or follow-up action plans, prompts like these can leave you feeling more anxious than before.
In some cases, focusing too much on what’s worrying you can become a form of overthinking. You might end up cycling through anxious thoughts on paper, reinforcing those negative loops instead of breaking free from them.
4. Not Addressing Physical Symptoms
Journaling is an entirely cognitive activity. But anxiety often manifests physically — in tension headaches, rapid heartbeats, or shallow breathing. Writing alone doesn’t engage the body in a way that addresses these physical symptoms. While journaling can help clarify your thoughts, it doesn’t provide relief from the physical aspect of anxiety. Sometimes what’s really needed is a more holistic approach, incorporating deep breathing, exercise, or grounding techniques that connect the mind and body.
5. The Need for Professional Support
One of the biggest limitations of journal prompts is that they aren’t a substitute for professional help. If anxiety is severe or chronic, it’s important to recognize that you may need guidance from a therapist or counselor. Journaling can complement therapy, helping you track your progress or explore your emotions, but it’s not a standalone solution for everyone. Cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT), for instance, goes beyond self-reflection, helping you challenge and reframe anxious thought patterns in ways that journal prompts alone can’t.
What Else Can Help?
If journal prompts don’t seem to be doing enough to relieve your anxiety, there are alternative or complementary strategies that might offer deeper support:
Movement and Mindfulness: Practices like yoga, walking, or deep breathing exercises can help release built-up tension that journaling alone can’t touch. These activities help calm the nervous system, offering relief from the physical symptoms of anxiety.
While I know these things help, again, these items alone don’t do it for me. I know people who can calm themselves from an intense work out. I finish a workout knowing it was good for me, but sometimes still do not feel less anxious. If anything I know it helps, but isn’t the only solution.
Cognitive-Behavioral Techniques: Challenging negative thoughts through structured techniques like those used in CBT can help shift your perspective and create more helpful thought patterns. You might use journaling as part of this process, but with a focus on problem-solving and reframing thoughts.
This can be intense. It requires a willingness to be quite vulnerable, but can play a small part in curbing overwhelming anxiety. Still, these techniques alone aren’t enough for me on their own.
Meditation and Visualization: Meditative practices can offer a calming presence that journaling lacks. Visualization techniques, for example, can help you mentally rehearse anxiety-provoking scenarios in a way that decreases fear, while also teaching your brain to associate relaxation with these triggers.
Admittedly, I struggle with this one. I do it because I know it can help, and does help from time to time. But it is an intentional choice to stay at this practice. I invested in an app that was on sale for a year. I will likely not renew it to pay full price, but use the year I have to continue to teach myself how to better practice meditation. And it is a practice I do; routinely, but again, this alone is not enough for me.
Therapy: If anxiety is overwhelming or long-standing, speaking with a mental health professional can provide the tools and support needed to manage it. Therapists can offer more personalized guidance than journal prompts, helping you identify triggers, reframe thinking, and develop coping strategies.
This is another one I struggle with. I am not actually fond of the idea of spilling my emotions and thoughts to someone else once a month. But, perhaps the once a month is part of the frustration. While I will not likely ever be okay spilling my emotions to anyone routinely, perhaps more often should be considered. And if I could train myself to focus on the practices I did try from one session to the next that helped; well then maybe I can more easily get into routine habits and practices that help on a more consistent basis.
Conclusion
Journal prompts can be a helpful tool in managing anxiety, but they often only scratch the surface. For many, true relief comes from a more comprehensive approach that includes physical movement, cognitive restructuring, and sometimes, professional support. Journaling can still be a part of your anxiety-management toolkit, but it’s important to recognize its limitations and seek out additional strategies when needed.
Anxiety is complex, and it often requires a multifaceted approach. A few thoughtful questions on paper may not always be enough, but they can certainly be part of a larger, more holistic process toward healing.
At no point would I ever think I have these practices dialed in enough to be an expert at anything. Clearly, the anxiety I felt at a recent sporting event; which prompted this blog post; is an indicator that I am not dialed in, but consistently working to manage the anxiety. And sometimes it is helpful to know that others are working similar issues and concerns too. I hope this reflection can be that reminder or encouragement for someone else.
