50 Therapeutic Mental Health Journal Prompts

1. Write down five things that make you incredibly happy and describe why they make you feel this way.
2. What do you fear the most? Why? Is your fear rational?
3. What qualities about yourself do you love the most?
4. In the following year, what are five improvements you would like to make regarding your life? Write about the improvements and create a plan to accomplish each one.
5. Write about one of your happiest memories.
6. Write about the people in your life that make you feel the most “at ease” and what they do to make you feel that way.
7. Write about a complex memory and the coping mechanisms you used at the time. Would you change the way you dealt? How?
8. Write a poem (that DOESN’T HAVE TO RHYME) describing the exact opposite of yourself.
9. Write about the last time you cried. What caused you to cry?
10. Write about the last time you laughed hard. What was so funny?
11. Write a letter to the future YOU.
12. Write a letter to one of your parents – even if you don’t give it to them.
13. What has your anxiety taught you about yourself?
14. Write down a list of ‘regrets.’ Either throw them away or toss them into a fire. (Let go of past regrets & move on).
15. In detail, describe a perfect day.
16. Write a letter to a person who has negatively impacted you. (Again, you don’t have to send it out).
17. Write a letter to a person who has positively impacted you.
18. Write about a tough choice you’ve had to make in your life.
19. Write down all your coping mechanisms. Evaluate the ones that are most helpful and the ones that are the most detrimental. 
20. Describe what love means to you in detail.
21. Write a letter of forgiveness to yourself.
22. Write down 3 of your favorite smells. Describe, in detail, how each one makes you feel.
23. Have you ever felt isolated? Write about it.
24. Write about five songs that mean the most to you. Why do the lyrics speak to you? How do you relate to these songs? How do they make you feel when you hear them?
25. Write down all the compliments you can think of that you’ve received. Write down compliments to people in your life.
26. Write a list of 10 things you want to remember during difficult times. (Use this later if you’re feeling down). 
27. What risks do you want to take? What’s holding you back?
28. What element do you consider to be YOU? Write about why. (Earth, Air, Fire, Water).
29. What are some of the strongest emotions you’ve ever felt? Write about how those emotions affected you and what caused you to feel those emotions.
30. Physically, how do you feel right now?
31. What speaks to you on a spiritual level? (Poetry, quote, song, etc.) Write about it.
32. What items/objects do you find the most comforting? Why do you think that is? What is comforting about them?
33. Write a love letter to yourself.
34. Write about something frustrating to you.
35. If you could be anywhere in the world at this very moment, where would you want to be and why?
36. What are three things that make you angry? Why?
37. What activities do you think would make you feel better? Make a plan to carry out those activities.
38. Write about something random you’ve seen that made you smile.
39. Describe your dream house.
40. Who or what (or both) helps motivate you the most? Why is that?
41. What are you worried about? Why?
42. What are some of your favorite books? Why? Write about them.
43. What makes you laugh?
44. Write about what you perceive to be the worst thing you’ve ever done.
45. When was the last time you did something for someone else? What did you do, and how did it make you feel?
46. What secrets are you keeping? Are these secrets affecting your life or mental health? Why or why not?
47. Write about something that truly surprised you.
48. Describe an outfit that makes you feel entirely comfortable in your skin. 
49. If you weren’t afraid, what are five things you would do? Are there any ways you can think of to overcome the fear?
50. Write a letter of forgiveness to someone who has caused you pain.

Keeping a journal can be a great way to manage your mental health. You can explore your deepest emotions and identify healthy means to deal with your feelings. Hopefully, these prompts can help you get your feelings onto paper and release the negative emotions from your mind. 

Benefits of Journaling For Mental Health

Writing in a journal has been a tool that has been used for many, many years. It is a personal therapeutic tool that is also a great way to center yourself after each day. Whether it was a good day or a challenging one, having a safe place to express your feelings with no fear of repercussions is something that everyone can benefit from. 

You do not have to have a diagnosed mental illness in a journal. However, understanding that mental illness diagnoses are the same as physical illness diagnoses (an anxiety diagnosis should be looked at no different than a thyroid diagnosis), we all have issues that we have to deal with. Healthily managing these issues provides us with reflection and an outlet to be our healthiest selves. 

Who Can Benefit From A Therapeutic Journal

Anyone can benefit from a therapeutic journal. Truly, anyone. As a child, you may have written in a diary, and teens nowadays may write a weekly blog post. But, no matter what age you started writing, you may have journal entries that span years and didn’t even realize it. 

Expressing our emotions is an incredibly healthy thing to do, and whether you have supportive friends and family around you or not, your deepest thoughts can be just for you. You may have some opinions or worries that you don’t want to express to others – and you don’t have to. That is where your journal comes in. It can be your trusted friend on the cloudiest of days. It is your unconditional love book. 

Why Journal Prompts Helps Depression And Anxiety

When you struggle with mental health conditions like depression or anxiety (which most people do on some level), you tend to “spin.” This is my word, not necessarily something you’ll hear in therapy, but it’s meant to define that place in which you find yourself where you focus on the same worry or deep sadness over and over. Unfortunately, there is no internal instruction manual for letting go of it, and it takes over entire days or weeks at a time. That is where a journal can come in. 

Writing in a journal is a wellness tool that will help you break that spinning cycle. It is a method of discovery that will enable you to crack through some of the intensity within yourself and get it out of your body. When you can share your internal thoughts with the external world, it gives a little less power to those feelings inside and enables you to sort through things you may not have been able to before. 

And it is through moments of self-reflection, we can gain the perspectives that we need to decide if we want to change something that we have held onto. So through the act of journaling, you can begin to recognize the themes coming up for you. And through journaling, you can reflect on what you want to change to have the life you want to have.   

Some people have a daily routine when it comes to journal writing. Their morning routine consists of a shower, breakfast, and twenty minutes to write in their journal – or they close out their day by writing before bed. Find the perfect time for you, where it positively affects your day. It is one of those new habits that should easily slide right in if you want it to.