By Calvin Field, founder of MindTrace. Last updated 6 November 2026.
Quick answer: In a therapy journal, write down specific moments rather than long summaries: what happened, what went through your mind, how you felt, and what you did next. Add anything you want to raise with your therapist. A few lines written close to the moment are more useful than a page written days later, because the detail is still fresh.
Key takeaways
Short, specific entries beat long reflective essays for therapy.
Use a simple format: situation, thought, feeling, what you did, and "bring to session?".
Write as close to the moment as you can, then review entries the day before your session.
Prompts help on days when you don't know where to start.
Your journal is for you. You choose what to share with your therapist.
What is a therapy journal?
A therapy journal is a place to record the thoughts, feelings and situations that come up between sessions, so you can look back on them and talk about them in therapy. It isn't a diary of everything that happened. It's a record of the moments that mattered: the argument that left you shaken, the worry that kept coming back, the small win you want to remember.
Many therapists, especially in CBT, ask clients to keep some kind of record between sessions. The NHS describes the thought record as a common CBT exercise and suggests writing your answers down, on paper or in an app, so you can refer back to them later. A therapy journal can be a simple version of the same idea.
Why does writing things down help?
Writing helps in two ways. First, it stops things getting lost. By the time your session comes round, the details of a difficult Tuesday have often faded, and you're left with "it was a hard week". If you want to understand why that happens, see why you forget what you wanted to say in therapy.
Second, writing can change how a thought sits with you. Research on expressive writing has looked at this for decades. A study reported by the American Psychological Association found that students who wrote about a negative experience had fewer intrusive thoughts about it afterwards than those who wrote about neutral topics. It was a small study with students, so it doesn't prove journaling will help everyone, but it's one reason many people find putting a thought into words makes it easier to look at.
What should I write in a therapy journal?
Keep each entry to the essentials. This simple format works for most people:
Part | What to write | Example |
Situation | Where you were and what happened | Team meeting, my idea was skipped over |
Thought | What went through your mind, in your own words | "They think my ideas are pointless" |
Feeling | The emotion and how strong it was (0 to 10) | Embarrassed, 7 out of 10 |
What you did | How you responded | Stayed quiet for the rest of the meeting |
Bring to session? | Yes, no or maybe | Yes. This keeps happening at work |
You don't need to fill in every part every time. On some days a single sentence is enough. What matters is that you capture the moment while it's still clear.
What should I avoid writing?
There's no wrong way to journal, but a few habits make a therapy journal less useful:
Writing only at the end of the week. You'll remember the general mood but lose the specific moments.
Long summaries with no detail. "Felt anxious all week" is hard to work with. "Felt sick before Thursday's call with my manager" gives you something to explore.
Judging your thoughts as you write them. Write the thought as it was, not as you think it should have been. Your therapist can help you look at it later.
Treating it as homework you can fail. A missed day is fine. Pick it up again when you can.
20 therapy journal prompts for between sessions
Use these when you open your journal and don't know what to write. Pick one or two, not all of them.
Prompts about what happened
What moment today stayed with me longest?
When did I notice my mood change, and what was happening just before?
What did I avoid today, and what did I think would happen if I didn't?
Who did I feel most at ease with, and who did I feel tense around?
What went better than I expected?
Prompts about thoughts
What thought kept coming back today?
What did I tell myself when things went wrong?
If a friend had this thought, what would I say to them?
Is this a thought I've had before? When?
What am I predicting will happen, and how sure am I?
Prompts about feelings and the body
What emotion was strongest today, and how strong was it out of 10?
Where did I feel it in my body?
What helped the feeling ease, even a little?
What did I need today that I didn't get?
When did I feel calm, and what was different then?
Prompts for your next session
What do I most want to talk about next time?
What has changed since my last session?
What did I try from last session, and how did it go?
What question do I want to ask my therapist?
Is there anything I've been putting off saying?
A worked example of a therapy journal entry
Here's what a short entry might look like, written on the train home a few minutes after it happened:
Thursday, 6:10pm. Call with my manager about the project timeline. When she said "we need to talk about the deadline", I immediately thought "I've messed this up and she's going to say so". Felt sick and tense, about 8 out of 10. In the end she just wanted to move the date. I spent the next hour replaying it anyway. Bring to session: yes. Why do I always assume I'm in trouble?
That's about 70 words. It records the situation, the thought, the feeling and its strength, what happened next, and a question for therapy. When you review your week, a few entries like this make patterns much easier to spot. Our guide to spotting patterns in your thinking over time shows what to look for.
How do I use my journal before a session?
Spend 10 minutes the day before your appointment reading back through the week:
Skim every entry once without judging it.
Mark the two or three that feel most important or keep repeating.
Write one line on what you'd like to understand or change about each.
Take those lines with you, on paper or on your phone.
If you're not sure whether it's okay to bring notes, it is, and many therapists welcome it. We cover this in is it okay to bring notes to therapy? For a fuller routine, see how to prepare for your next therapy session.
Paper journal or app?
Both work. The best option is the one you'll actually use in the moment.
Feature | Paper journal | App |
Best for | People who like writing by hand and reflecting slowly | Capturing a thought quickly, wherever you are |
Speed in the moment | Slower, and you need it with you | Fast, often by text or voice |
Reviewing the week | Flicking back through pages | Entries in one place, sometimes with charts |
Privacy | As private as where you keep it | Depends on the app's settings and policies |
How MindTrace helps
MindTrace is a CBT-inspired thought tracker for iOS and Android. You can capture a thought by text or voice in the moment, so you don't have to remember it later. Over time, charts and graphs show how your thoughts and feelings change. Before your next session, MindTrace gives you an AI summary of your week to read, so you arrive knowing what you want to talk about. It's designed to support therapy, not replace it.
Try MindTrace free for 7 days
Frequently asked questions
How often should I write in a therapy journal?
Write whenever something stands out, ideally soon after it happens. For many people that's a few short entries a week. Daily journaling isn't required, and a missed day doesn't undo anything.
Do I have to show my therapy journal to my therapist?
No. Your journal belongs to you. Many people share a summary or read out one or two entries, and keep the rest private. You can tell your therapist you've been journaling and decide together how to use it.
How long should a therapy journal entry be?
Short is fine. Two to five sentences covering the situation, the thought, the feeling and what you did is usually enough. Detail matters more than length.
What if I don't know what to write?
Start with one prompt, such as "What moment today stayed with me longest?" Or simply note your mood out of 10 and one reason for it. Small entries still build a useful picture over a few weeks.
Is a therapy journal the same as a CBT thought record?
They overlap. A thought record is a structured CBT exercise that also asks you to weigh the evidence for and against a thought. A therapy journal is usually looser. You can learn the full method in our guide to using a CBT thought record.
MindTrace is not a crisis service and doesn't replace professional care. If you're in crisis or worried about your safety, call or text 988 in Canada or the US, call 999 or Samaritans on 116 123 in the UK, or contact your local emergency services.
By Calvin Field, founder of MindTrace. Last updated 6 November 2026.
Quick answer: In a therapy journal, write down specific moments rather than long summaries: what happened, what went through your mind, how you felt, and what you did next. Add anything you want to raise with your therapist. A few lines written close to the moment are more useful than a page written days later, because the detail is still fresh.
Key takeaways
Short, specific entries beat long reflective essays for therapy.
Use a simple format: situation, thought, feeling, what you did, and "bring to session?".
Write as close to the moment as you can, then review entries the day before your session.
Prompts help on days when you don't know where to start.
Your journal is for you. You choose what to share with your therapist.
What is a therapy journal?
A therapy journal is a place to record the thoughts, feelings and situations that come up between sessions, so you can look back on them and talk about them in therapy. It isn't a diary of everything that happened. It's a record of the moments that mattered: the argument that left you shaken, the worry that kept coming back, the small win you want to remember.
Many therapists, especially in CBT, ask clients to keep some kind of record between sessions. The NHS describes the thought record as a common CBT exercise and suggests writing your answers down, on paper or in an app, so you can refer back to them later. A therapy journal can be a simple version of the same idea.
Why does writing things down help?
Writing helps in two ways. First, it stops things getting lost. By the time your session comes round, the details of a difficult Tuesday have often faded, and you're left with "it was a hard week". If you want to understand why that happens, see why you forget what you wanted to say in therapy.
Second, writing can change how a thought sits with you. Research on expressive writing has looked at this for decades. A study reported by the American Psychological Association found that students who wrote about a negative experience had fewer intrusive thoughts about it afterwards than those who wrote about neutral topics. It was a small study with students, so it doesn't prove journaling will help everyone, but it's one reason many people find putting a thought into words makes it easier to look at.
What should I write in a therapy journal?
Keep each entry to the essentials. This simple format works for most people:
Part | What to write | Example |
Situation | Where you were and what happened | Team meeting, my idea was skipped over |
Thought | What went through your mind, in your own words | "They think my ideas are pointless" |
Feeling | The emotion and how strong it was (0 to 10) | Embarrassed, 7 out of 10 |
What you did | How you responded | Stayed quiet for the rest of the meeting |
Bring to session? | Yes, no or maybe | Yes. This keeps happening at work |
You don't need to fill in every part every time. On some days a single sentence is enough. What matters is that you capture the moment while it's still clear.
What should I avoid writing?
There's no wrong way to journal, but a few habits make a therapy journal less useful:
Writing only at the end of the week. You'll remember the general mood but lose the specific moments.
Long summaries with no detail. "Felt anxious all week" is hard to work with. "Felt sick before Thursday's call with my manager" gives you something to explore.
Judging your thoughts as you write them. Write the thought as it was, not as you think it should have been. Your therapist can help you look at it later.
Treating it as homework you can fail. A missed day is fine. Pick it up again when you can.
20 therapy journal prompts for between sessions
Use these when you open your journal and don't know what to write. Pick one or two, not all of them.
Prompts about what happened
What moment today stayed with me longest?
When did I notice my mood change, and what was happening just before?
What did I avoid today, and what did I think would happen if I didn't?
Who did I feel most at ease with, and who did I feel tense around?
What went better than I expected?
Prompts about thoughts
What thought kept coming back today?
What did I tell myself when things went wrong?
If a friend had this thought, what would I say to them?
Is this a thought I've had before? When?
What am I predicting will happen, and how sure am I?
Prompts about feelings and the body
What emotion was strongest today, and how strong was it out of 10?
Where did I feel it in my body?
What helped the feeling ease, even a little?
What did I need today that I didn't get?
When did I feel calm, and what was different then?
Prompts for your next session
What do I most want to talk about next time?
What has changed since my last session?
What did I try from last session, and how did it go?
What question do I want to ask my therapist?
Is there anything I've been putting off saying?
A worked example of a therapy journal entry
Here's what a short entry might look like, written on the train home a few minutes after it happened:
Thursday, 6:10pm. Call with my manager about the project timeline. When she said "we need to talk about the deadline", I immediately thought "I've messed this up and she's going to say so". Felt sick and tense, about 8 out of 10. In the end she just wanted to move the date. I spent the next hour replaying it anyway. Bring to session: yes. Why do I always assume I'm in trouble?
That's about 70 words. It records the situation, the thought, the feeling and its strength, what happened next, and a question for therapy. When you review your week, a few entries like this make patterns much easier to spot. Our guide to spotting patterns in your thinking over time shows what to look for.
How do I use my journal before a session?
Spend 10 minutes the day before your appointment reading back through the week:
Skim every entry once without judging it.
Mark the two or three that feel most important or keep repeating.
Write one line on what you'd like to understand or change about each.
Take those lines with you, on paper or on your phone.
If you're not sure whether it's okay to bring notes, it is, and many therapists welcome it. We cover this in is it okay to bring notes to therapy? For a fuller routine, see how to prepare for your next therapy session.
Paper journal or app?
Both work. The best option is the one you'll actually use in the moment.
Feature | Paper journal | App |
Best for | People who like writing by hand and reflecting slowly | Capturing a thought quickly, wherever you are |
Speed in the moment | Slower, and you need it with you | Fast, often by text or voice |
Reviewing the week | Flicking back through pages | Entries in one place, sometimes with charts |
Privacy | As private as where you keep it | Depends on the app's settings and policies |
How MindTrace helps
MindTrace is a CBT-inspired thought tracker for iOS and Android. You can capture a thought by text or voice in the moment, so you don't have to remember it later. Over time, charts and graphs show how your thoughts and feelings change. Before your next session, MindTrace gives you an AI summary of your week to read, so you arrive knowing what you want to talk about. It's designed to support therapy, not replace it.
Try MindTrace free for 7 days
Frequently asked questions
How often should I write in a therapy journal?
Write whenever something stands out, ideally soon after it happens. For many people that's a few short entries a week. Daily journaling isn't required, and a missed day doesn't undo anything.
Do I have to show my therapy journal to my therapist?
No. Your journal belongs to you. Many people share a summary or read out one or two entries, and keep the rest private. You can tell your therapist you've been journaling and decide together how to use it.
How long should a therapy journal entry be?
Short is fine. Two to five sentences covering the situation, the thought, the feeling and what you did is usually enough. Detail matters more than length.
What if I don't know what to write?
Start with one prompt, such as "What moment today stayed with me longest?" Or simply note your mood out of 10 and one reason for it. Small entries still build a useful picture over a few weeks.
Is a therapy journal the same as a CBT thought record?
They overlap. A thought record is a structured CBT exercise that also asks you to weigh the evidence for and against a thought. A therapy journal is usually looser. You can learn the full method in our guide to using a CBT thought record.
MindTrace is not a crisis service and doesn't replace professional care. If you're in crisis or worried about your safety, call or text 988 in Canada or the US, call 999 or Samaritans on 116 123 in the UK, or contact your local emergency services.
