Articles
On journaling, emotional health, and paying attention.
Writing about your own life is one of the oldest practices there is, and one of the few that modern research has actually tried to measure. These articles look at what journaling does, what it doesn't do, and how to practise it in a way that helps rather than hurts. We try to be accurate rather than encouraging: where the evidence is thin, we say so.
Do journaling streaks work?
Almost every journaling app counts your consecutive days. The counter rests on the idea that a broken chain sets you back. That claim has been tested, and the habit-formation data does not support it.
The Pennebaker writing exercise: how to do the four days
The most studied writing exercise in psychology fits into four evenings. This is the practical version: the original instructions, how to pick what to write about, what the days tend to feel like, and the situations where it is better not to start.
Does journaling help mental health? What the evidence actually says
Forty years of expressive-writing research sit behind the claim that journaling is good for you. The findings are genuinely encouraging — and considerably more modest than the headlines. Here is the honest version, and what it means for how you write.
Journaling and therapy: what writing can do, and what it can't
The question is usually framed as journaling versus therapy, which is the wrong frame. The interesting version is narrower: what does a journal actually add to therapeutic work, where does it fall short, and when does it quietly make things worse?
