235+ Category: Journal Prompts For Depression
-
Exploring Triggers
Write a detailed account of a situation or moment that triggered your depression, followed by a reflection and analysis of…
-
Dreamscape Reflections
Detail a dream (either sleeping or daydream) that made you question your reality or opened up a new perspective.
-
A Letter to Future Self
Write a letter to your future self, detailing what you’re experiencing, your hopes for the future, and encouraging words.
-
Unveiling Positivity
Write about a positive event or accomplishment that occurred recently, no matter how small.
-
Exploring Strength in Vulnerability
Write about a time you felt most vulnerable and how you overcame that situation.
-
Symbols of Remembrance
Identify an object that represents your relationship with the one you’ve lost and explain why.
-
The Memory Snapshot
Choose a specific memory you have of the person or thing you’ve lost and write about it in great detail.
-
Facing The Loss
Write a letter to the person or thing you’ve lost, expressing your feelings and thoughts.
-
Self-Reflection and Improvement
Write about how you believe your depressive state might affect your relationships and what can be done for improvement.
-
Building Trust
Devise an action plan on rebuilding trust in a relationship that’s suffering due to your depression.
-
Understanding Relationship Triggers
Write about a particular relationship in your life which triggers feelings of depression, or significantly affects your moods.
-
Planting Self-Love Seeds
Write about the qualities you love about yourself now that you may not have recognized before.
-
Reflecting Transformation
Draw a timeline of your life and write about the changes you’ve seen over time.
-
Breaking Old Patterns
Write about a negative pattern or behavior that you have successfully overcome.
-
Lonely Spaces
Think about a place where you feel most lonely. It could be a physical location or a mental space.
-
Hidden Narratives
Imagine being visited by your future self. What advice would they give to help you through this period of loneliness?
-
Inspirational Encounters
Write about a time you met someone who truly inspired you, and describe how they impacted your life.
-
Examining the Gratitude Graph
Record one thing you are grateful for each day and observe how it affects your mood.
-
Waving Goodbye to Guilt
Examine a time when you felt guilty about something and consider what you might do differently now.
-
Peering Into Success’ Mirror
Reflect on a time when you coped exceptionally well with a difficult situation.
-
Unraveling Stress Threads
Write about a stressful situation and then list the ways you could or did handle it.
-
Mapping Overcast Days
Plot the course of a depressive episode, starting from when you first sense it coming, through its peak, and up…
-
The Healing Letter
Compose a letter acknowledging your depression and expressing your feelings towards it.
-
Kindness Tag
Write about someone who has always been kind to you, and how it has affected your life.
-
Affectionate Memories
Write about a memorable instance where you felt an overwhelming sense of love.
-
Random Acts of Kindness
Journal about a time you were the giver or recipient of a random act of kindness.
-
Share Your Pain
Write a letter to someone expressing how you feel without worrying about sending it.
-
Self-Compassion Letter
Write a letter of compassion to yourself, discussing your current struggles and how you are proud of dealing with them.
-
Journey from Yesterday
Write about your emotional journey from the previous day, including both highs and lows.
-
Confronting Negative Thoughts
Pen down a negative thought that’s presently plaguing your mind and break it down to understand its origins.
-
Your Future Brighter Self
Imagine and write a letter from your future self, detailing how you’ve overcome your depressive thoughts in that brighter timeline.
-
Mapping Your Emotions
Create an emotional map of a typical day, detailing the moments that elicit any strong feelings in you.
-
Creating Bright Spots
List five things that give you joy and elaborate on why they evoke such happiness in you.
-
The Ripple Effect
Write about a small act of kindness you’ve done or received and how it changed your day or life.
-
Shading Your Unique Perspective
Write a piece on how you perceive the world differently from the people around you, focusing on a positive or…
-
Future Anticipated Emotions
Write about an upcoming event and predict your emotional response to it.
-
Colors of Feelings
Assign specific colors to your feelings and describe why you associate them with particular emotions.
-
Gratitude for Self
Write a letter to yourself expressing gratitude for your accomplishments, strengths, and even flaws.
-
Gratitude in Difficult Times
Write about a challenging period in your life for which you feel grateful.
-
Thanksgiving Dinnertime
Imagine hosting a Thanksgiving dinner where you invite five people (living, dead, or fictional) you are thankful for.
-
Gratitude Letter
Write a letter expressing your gratitude to someone who has significantly influenced your life.
-
Expression of Kindness
Describe an instance where you performed an act of kindness, and discuss how it made you feel.
-
Celebrating Growth
Recall a failure or setback and pen down how it eventually led to your growth or success.
-
Unfolding of Joy
Document one moment or event today that brought you joy, however simple or momentous it was.
-
Turning Shadows Into Sunlight
Reflect on a challenging moment and write about how it ultimately led to something positive.
-
Composing Gratitude
Create a list of ten things you are grateful for and describe why you appreciate each one.
-
Rainy days and Rainbows
List 5-10 “rainy days,” or challenging moments from your past, and then select one to detail a “rainbow” or positive…
-
The Silver Linings
Detail an unforeseen positive effect or growth that you experienced as a result of your depression.
-
Finding Light in Darkness
Write about one instance where you found joy or positivity during a depressing time.
-
Gifts from Adversity
Write about a time you faced a difficult situation and ended up learning something valuable about yourself.
-
Constructive Criticism
Write about a time when you received criticism that initially hurt, but ultimately led to personal growth.
-
Sowing Seeds of Self-Acceptance
Write about three things you love about yourself and why these traits matter.
-
Roots of the Weed
Chart out the origin of a particular negative thought, tracing from its inception to its current influence.
-
Letters of Liberation
Write a letter to your negative thoughts, expressing your feelings and why you want to let them go.
-
Negative to Positive Transmutation
Think of a recurring negative thought and transform each element of it into a positive one.
-
Coloring the Gray
Envision your negative thoughts as a color and define why you associate that particular color with them.
-
Demystifying Darkness
Write about a negative thought that continually haunts you, and explicitly outline why it appears over and over.