Journal prompts for anxiety
Journal prompts for anxiety get a worry out of your head and onto a page, where you can look at it. Rather than talking you out of the worry, the 14 below ask you to write it down exactly, notice where you feel it in your body, and then, a week or two later, check it against what happened.
How to use these. Ten minutes and one worry is plenty for an entry. If your anxiety is high right now, start with the body group and come back to the rest later.
Put the worry on the page
An anxious thought moves fast and stays vague: something bad, soon, somehow your fault. You can't get a good look at it while it's moving, so I'd write it down as exactly as you can, even if it looks silly on paper. Start with one sentence.
What exactly are you afraid will happen? Write down the date you'd know by.
Answer this with JoyIf 0 is quiet and 10 is as loud as it gets, how loud is the worry as you start writing?
Answer this with JoyNotice it in your body
A tight chest or a churning stomach can arrive before the worry has any words, and you can notice where something is tight without knowing what it's about. On those days I'd start with your body.
Where do you feel the anxiety most right now: chest, stomach, throat, hands, or somewhere else?
Answer this with JoyWhat does your body want to do right now: move, hide, check something, or something else?
Answer this with JoyLook around from where you're sitting. What are three things you can see, and one thing you can hear?
Answer this with JoyStep back from it
You don't have to decide yet whether the worry is true, because you'll check it after the date you wrote down. For now, look at how tightly you're holding it.
Say a close friend texted you this exact worry. What would you write back?
Answer this with JoyThink of a time you got through something like this. What did you do that helped?
Answer this with JoyImagine the worry turns out to be wrong. How would you spend today?
Answer this with JoyCheck it later
I'd come back a week or two later, after the date you wrote down, so you can put what the worry said would happen next to what did. Have the old entry open.
When the time came, how well did you cope, compared with how you expected to?
Answer this with JoyWhy check a worry instead of arguing with it
Arguing with an anxious thought can turn into more worrying, so I'd check it instead: write the prediction down and look again once the date has passed. In one study, people with generalized anxiety disorder recorded their worries during treatment. Of those worries, 91.4% did not come true.1
The worry time page goes through that study in more detail, along with the research on giving worry its own slot at the same time and place each day, so it has somewhere to go besides your whole evening.
Example entry: "Worry: my manager is unhappy with me because she canceled our one-on-one. I'll know by Friday's meeting. Body: tight chest, jaw clenched. Friday update: she'd been out sick. The meeting was fine."
- "It might all go wrong": What exactly do you expect, and when will you know?
- "Why am I like this?": What is your body doing right now, and what does it want to do?
- "I have to fix this tonight": When tomorrow could you give this 30 minutes on purpose?
When worry is there most days
If worry shows up most days, or it's getting in the way of sleep, work or the people you're close to, a journal can't carry that on its own. Your entries mean you won't have to remember every bad week on the spot in a first appointment. Take the journal with you.
The anxiety check-in is another way to write down what you're noticing. For a racing heart or panic right now, try a slow breathing exercise before you write anything.
Questions people ask about journaling for anxiety
What should I write in my journal when I'm anxious?
Three lines will do: the worry in one sentence, what you expect to happen and the date you'll know, and where you feel it in your body. Then put a reminder on that date to come back.
Can journaling make anxiety worse?
It can, when every entry turns into rehearsing the worst case in more detail. I'd keep entries short and end each one on something in your control, and if the worry wants an hour, give it a scheduled worry time instead of the whole evening.
Is it better to journal about anxiety at night or in the morning?
Earlier may be easier, so the worry isn't the last thing in your head before sleep, and if one shows up at night anyway, write a single line and the time tomorrow you'll look at it.
Related
More prompts are in the journaling section: journal prompts for overthinking, journal prompts for mental health and the full list of journal prompts. For one thought that won't let go, use the thought record.