What should I write in my therapy journal?

Start with three things: your mood (one word), what triggered it, and one thing you want to bring up in your next session. From there, you can add thought patterns, physical sensations, sleep quality, and moments of progress. The key is consistency over depth — even one sentence a day builds a useful record.

How often should I write in a therapy journal?

Daily is ideal but not required. Most therapists recommend at least 3-4 times per week. The best cadence is the one you'll actually stick with. A 2-minute daily check-in is more valuable than a 30-minute session you only do once a week.

Should I show my therapy journal to my therapist?

That's entirely up to you. Many people find it helpful to share specific entries or patterns they've noticed. Others use it as a private space. A good approach: use the journal to prepare for sessions by flagging entries you want to discuss, but keep the rest private.

What's the difference between a therapy journal and a regular diary?

A regular diary is open-ended. A therapy journal is structured around your mental health goals: mood tracking, thought pattern recognition, trigger identification, coping strategy evaluation, and session preparation. The structure turns venting into data your therapist can work with.

Wellside Press · Mental Health

What to Write in a Therapy Journal: A Practical Guide

By Wellside Press · 10 min read

Short answer: Start with your mood (one word), what triggered it, and one thing you want to bring up next session. Then build from there. The key is consistency, not perfection — even one sentence a day creates a record your therapist can work with.

You bought a journal. You opened it. You stared at the blank page. Then you closed it and put it on your nightstand where it's been collecting dust for two weeks.

You're not lazy. You're stuck on the same question everyone gets stuck on: what am I supposed to write?

Here's the truth: there's no wrong answer, but there is a system that makes it easier. And once you have a system, the blank page stops being intimidating and starts being useful.

The 3-Line Daily Check-In (Start Here)

If you do nothing else, do this every evening. It takes less than 2 minutes:

Mood: One word. Anxious. Calm. Numb. Irritable. Hopeful. Whatever is true.
Trigger: What happened today that affected that mood? A conversation, a thought, a situation, nothing obvious.
Flag: Is there anything from today you want to bring up in your next session? Yes or no. If yes, one sentence about what.

That's it. Three lines. Over a month, those three lines become a mood map your therapist can read in 60 seconds — and it's more useful than 20 minutes of "I've been fine, I guess" at the start of a session.

20 Therapy Journal Prompts (When You Want to Go Deeper)

Use these when you have more time or when something is sitting heavy:

Emotional Awareness

What emotion am I feeling right now, and where do I feel it in my body?
When did this feeling start? What was I doing?
What would I say to a friend feeling this way?
What emotion am I avoiding right now?
What's the difference between how I feel and how I'm acting?

Thought Patterns

What story am I telling myself about this situation?
Is this thought a fact or an interpretation?
What's the worst-case scenario I'm imagining? How likely is it really?
What would I think about this on a good day?
What pattern am I noticing in my thinking this week?

Relationship and Boundaries

Did I say yes to something I wanted to say no to today?
Who drained my energy today? Who restored it?
What conversation am I avoiding, and why?
What do I need from someone that I haven't asked for?
Did I take care of someone else's feelings at the expense of my own?

Progress and Gratitude

What did I handle better this week than I would have a month ago?
What coping strategy actually worked today?
What's one small thing I'm proud of from today?
What would my therapist say I'm making progress on?
What's one thing I did for myself today — not for anyone else?

What to Track Daily (The Clinical Side)

Beyond the emotional writing, tracking specific metrics helps your therapist spot patterns you can't see from inside your own head:

Sleep: Hours, quality (1-10), interruptions
Anxiety level: Morning and evening (1-10)
Energy: 1-10
Appetite: Normal, reduced, increased
Social interaction: Isolated, some contact, social
Medication taken: Yes/no, any side effects
Exercise: Type and duration
Panic attacks or acute episodes: Time, duration, trigger

This data is what turns "I've been anxious" into "my anxiety peaks at 8/10 on Sunday evenings, drops to 3 by Tuesday, and correlates with poor sleep the night before." That's actionable. Your therapist can work with that.

How to Use Your Journal in Sessions

The journal isn't just for between sessions — it transforms the sessions themselves:

Before the session: Flip through the week's entries. Flag 2-3 things you want to discuss. Write them on a sticky note or the session prep page.
During the session: Reference specific entries. "On Wednesday I wrote that I felt panicky after the phone call with my mom — can we talk about that?"
After the session: Write down what you discussed, any homework, and one thing that resonated. You'll forget 70% of it by tomorrow if you don't.

The Mental Health & Therapy Companion by Wellside Press has dedicated pages for all of this — daily mood tracking, therapy session prep, post-session notes, and open journaling space. The structure means you never stare at a blank page wondering what to write.

Mental Health & Therapy Companion Journal by Wellside Press

Mental Health & Therapy Companion — Wellside Press

Daily mood tracking, 20+ guided prompts, session prep pages, and space for the thoughts that don't fit in 50 minutes. Your daily bridge between sessions.

View on Amazon →

Wellside Press creates medical tracking journals for people navigating treatment. Every journal is designed with input from patients and caregivers who've been through it.