50 Top Therapeutic Journal Prompts for Mental Health

As someone who has been through their fair share of mental health struggles and actively goes to therapy, I know firsthand how therapeutic journaling can be.

If you are looking to better your mental health or just feel happier overall, journaling can be an excellent tool.

Why Journaling is Good for Mental Health

Throughout my life, I have gone through ups and downs with my journal. I will get super into journaling and then I find myself falling off a few weeks later.

As my journal gets forgotten in the bottom of my drawer, I can’t help but notice that my mental health feels forgotten too. There is a direct correlation between my journaling habits and my mental health.

This makes sense, too.

As I struggle with anxiety, depression, body image, disordered eating, and other mental health struggles, journaling is one of the few things that gives me some relief!

When in therapy, I was talking to my therapist about journaling. In fact, journaling is something my therapist really recommends for improving mental health. She went through all the ways that journaling can be therapeutic and healing for your mental health.

10 of the best therapeutic journaling benefits:

1. Offers perspective
2. Allows you to track your moods
3. Gives you an outlet
4. Clears your mind
5. Helps practice mindfulness
6. Makes triggers more obvious
7. Get thoughts off your mind
8. Express emotions
9. Interrupt negative thought patterns
10. Distraction

These are only 10 of the amazing therapeutic benefits of keeping a journal for mental health.

Journaling allows you to do some of the same things that you would practice in therapy: express emotions, check in with yourself, work through difficult thoughts and events, and dig deep into self-discovery and self-awareness.

With the right mental health journal prompts, you can achieve a really therapeutic, helpful, and productive result every time you sit down to write.

50 Therapeutic Journal Prompts for Mental Health

1. Write the first word that comes to mind when you ask yourself how you are feeling right now? Is it a positive or negative emotion? What do you think contributed to that feeling? If positive, how will you continue it? If negative, what needs to change?

2. Are you content with your life? Fully? Partially? Make a list of areas you feel content and areas that need work.

3. Who do you feel like you can turn to in your life for anything? Write them a letter. (You get to choose if you actually give it to them!)

4. Do you feel confident? Why or why not? Are there specific things that make you feel confident/not confident?

5. Are you in a relationship? If so, are you happy? If not, do you wish to be? Why?

6. Do you feel like you respect your body, nourish it with all its needs, and love it for what it does for you? Make a list or write a letter about all the things you appreciate about your body.

RELATED POST: 55 Powerful Journal Prompts for Body Image

7. Do you feel rested? Mentally, emotionally, physically? Where do you feel like you need some rest?

8. What does success mean to you? Do you feel successful?

9. Do you feel like you are a good person? What makes a “good person”?

10. What is your relationship like with your parents? Are you happy with it?

11. Do you feel like you have any unresolved trauma or resentment? If so, write a letter to that person.

12. What are you most proud of yourself for? Why?

13. What’s the weirdest dream you can remember having? What do you think it means?

14. Do you believe in a higher power? If so, how does it affect your life?

15. When is the last time you showed someone you love them? How did they react? How did it make you feel?

16. When do you feel the most yourself? Where are you? Who are you with? Why?

17. Write out an entire day, start to finish, of your dream day.

18. What’s the biggest challenge you have overcome? How did you do it?

19. Do you hold yourself to a higher standard than others? Are you unfairly hard on yourself? Why?

20. What are your favorite qualities in a person? Who has these qualities?

21. What do you feel is a healthy coping mechanism for you? When have you used it? How did it help?

22. Be present. Describe, in detail, your current surroundings.

23. Write a letter to your future self.

24. Do you regret anything in your life? Write about it to release it.

25. What is something healthy you can do when you feel anxious or overwhelmed?

26. Do you have a hobby or a passion that is just yours to do? What is it? Why do you love it?

27. Write an “I’m sorry” letter to you for a time you were mean to yourself.

28. Write a letter of forgiveness to yourself in response to #27.

29. What motivates you to get up in the mornings?

30. List your favorite physical traits of yourself.

31. List your favorite personality traits of yourself.

32. What is the thing you are most passionate about? Why do you feel passionate about it.

33. Write about your mental health journey. What have you struggled with? What have you overcome?

34. List your biggest pet peeves and why you think they bother you.

35. Where is your favorite place on this earth? Why? How do you feel there?

36. Do you feel comfortable in who you are? Why or why not?

37. When is the last time you cried? What was it over? How did it feel?

38. How do you express love?

39. How do you best recieve love? What is your love language? When do you feel most loved?

40. Define love.

41. Brainstorm about the purpose of life.

42. What are your biggest goals in life? Why? How will you achieve them?

43. What is the best compliment you’ve ever received? Who was it from? Why did it mean a lot to you?

44. If you could talk to one person that has passed away, who would it be? What would you say? Consider writing them a letter.

45. What/who makes you laugh?

46. How can you better support yourself? What do you need from you?

47. Write about your ideal self care day/self care night. How often do you make time for self care?

48. What are you stressed about right now? Can you do anything about it? If so, what? If not, why are you stressed?

49. Write about a moment you’ve witnessed that brought you pure, genuine joy.

50. Are you happy?

There you have 50 therapuetic journal prompts for mental health.

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Journaling and journal prompts, either on their own or coupled with therapy, can be an extremely helpful tool for bettering your mental health and becoming happier.

As someone who is in therapy, I know that a combination of therapy journaling and talk therapy is when I feel my best mentally.

I hope that these journal prompts can help you uncover where you are at, how you feel, and what you need.

Sending love!

XOXO,

Del