Can Keeping a Journal in Rehab Really Lead to Better Counseling?
So you’ve started rehab, and your counselor has asked that you keep a journal—but why? What’s the point? Will it really help with the counseling itself?
Often times patients are asked to keep track of their recovery by journaling their efforts, their goals and their struggles alongside their achievements and their emotions. This is a transitional time period that will lead to lifelong change—and keeping a journal to reflect back on can be highly beneficial both for the patient and for the counselor that is working with the patient.
Featured Rehab Center
How Journaling in Rehab can Help to Improve your Sessions with a Counselor
Someone who begins journaling during treatment often experiences better counseling sessions with their therapist for a number of reasons including:
The patient is more aware of their situation and can engage more easily with the counselor.
The patient has thought about their situation and, ideally, what they would like to say or address during counseling.
If the journal is shared with the counselor, the counselor can better understand what the patient is thinking as well as point to specific phrases in the patient’s own words when treating them.
The counselor can see the patient’s progress in another way, getting to view thoughts they may not be ready to say out loud.
Even if a person doesn’t write well, they can easily get their thoughts across this way, which can be very helpful to both the counselor and the patient.
What to Include
Keeping a journal in rehab can clue you in to your relapse triggers.
Your journal is up to you. You can include anything that you wish to include, but we recommend that you consider the following topics:
Goals
Updates on how you feel each day
Updates on any struggles you have (and what you have done to cope with them)
Updates on your counseling sessions and any “light bulb” moments
Achievements
Relapses
If you relapse, you may wonder why you would possibly want to talk about it and keep a note in your journal about it—but here’s the thing: If you journal actively, and discuss your goals and your struggles, and then you relapse, there’s a good chance that the answer to your relapse, the reasons behind the relapse and a proper coping mechanism for the relapse are all in the journal.
Furthermore, keeping track will help your counselor to help you get through the situation and move forward in recovery. To learn more about counseling in rehab, or for help finding the right rehab for you, call us today at 888-646-0635Who Answers?.
Watching alcoholism destroy a loved one’s life can be a heart-rending experience, leaving a person feeling helpless and oftentimes alone. In spite of your attempts to reason, bargain and even beg, he or she continues to turn to alcohol as the be-all and end-all for life’s problems. While no one can force a person to….
Meth addiction can cause permanent brain damage if the disease is left untreated. Most people addicted to meth do not realize the severity of their drug abuse behavior and many do not realize that there are effective ways of treating their meth addiction. Meth Addiction and Treatment According to the Center for Substance Abuse Research,….
You’ve made the decision. You’re going to rehab. You’ve told your wife. Your parents. You even sent an email to your boss, explaining that you’ll be gone for a month and that your MFLA paperwork is being processed. Your bags are packed and you’re ready to go. Except for one thing. You haven’t told any….
Drug addiction is a dangerous disease but did you know that detoxing from drugs can be just as dangerous as overdosing? Certain drugs have a very strong physical dependency and abruptly eliminating these drugs can cause adverse affects on the body. While it is always advisable to stop using drugs it is not always advisable….
Everyone knows the stereotype of the people who go to drug rehab. They’re junkies. They’re unclean. They live on the streets, they prostitute, and they don’t care about anything but themselves. That’s who people think of when they think of drug rehab. Yet, that’s not the case. Addiction doesn’t have biases and there are thousands….
Are you struggling with life, trying to keep everything from spiraling out of control but not matter how hard you try you just keep using drugs? You feel helpless and ashamed, you’ve isolated yourself from friends and family, you miss work or school regularly because you don’t “feel” well but no matter what you do,….
Alcoholism takes its toll on the alcoholic and their families. An important element of alcohol rehab is building positive relationships with people who will support you during recovery. The alcoholic is never the only one to suffer from this debilitating disease. All family members, including the children, partners, parents, and other loved ones are impacted…..
The police department in Evesham, New Jersey want to help people struggling with addiction rather than sending them to jail or prison. This is why they have implemented a new rule as of March 23, 2018 that each and every Monday, individuals living with addictions can come to the police department and ask for help…..
According to the National Institute on Drug Abuse, drug addiction is similar to other chronic, relapsing diseases, such as asthma, diabetes or heart disease, and just like these other diseases, drug addiction can be managed successfully. However, it is common for a person to relapse and begin abusing drugs again, but this just means that….
It’s normal to experience a certain degree of fatigue after long periods of physical activity or mental exertion. Under normal circumstances, the body recharges and resumes normal functioning. Someone suffering from chronic fatigue syndrome feels tired much of time with little to no reprieve, even after periods of rest. According to the University of Maryland….
