Dear diary...

[Closed for repairs]

Anyone keep a journal,

I'm in two minds, I started to write things down when I was trying to decide if I needed, help, I gave me a bit of overview, of what was happening.

When I started looking at CBT, I realised, my teachers were right and putting things down on papers does help, get them in your mind, and as I'm the only one who will read it I don't have to worry about spelling ,grammar, and handwriting.

Now don't get me wrong, when someone on the internet say they are "keeping a journal" it often means "look at my lovely writing and pictures, aren't I creative.?"

Well mines not it's a mess, it's got stick men doodles, it's got swearing, it's got a shopping list, some circuit diagrams, and a very bad picture of a cow.

My vicious flower diagrams look like bindweed, and my Hirachy of fear exposure ladders, are  nasty.

I've stopped recording my moods and obsessions, as I think it can be a compulsion, and I'm aware it could be a form of ruminating.

I think it helps, and at least I should be able to see if I'm making progress.

[PolarBear]

You are doing it right as far as I'm concerned. The thoughts in your mind are messy and nasty. Why should they be neat and organized on paper? Write like no one is ever going to read it. Get it out!

[dksea]

I occasionally journal when I am going through rough times with my OCD.  It helps to get the thoughts out and on paper, your right, you do process them differently.  Since I'm struggling and don't want it to become a compulsion I always set a time limit on how long I can write and I try not to repeat the same thoughts day after day. I've found it to be helpful and if you are doing it just in general as part of your daily routine it doesn't sound problematic at all to me.

[taurean]

In CBT I was encouraged to use a journal  when in a period of distress. 

And to use a thought log when carrying out ERP. 

This was valuable used as an ERP exercise. It enabled me to keep track of progress on my triggers, rating the anxiety before, then again after, the period of letting the thoughts in, not fighting THEM, really experiencing them full on. 

Seeing an obsessional thought written down is powerful. We have to come out of our comfort zone to do it, which is of course part of the exercise. 

When people on the forum hide behind acronyms like POCD you sense they may be practising avoidance. When we write down our intrusions in a journal , or in a thought log in ERP, we are opening up to them. And in the journal we can make observations about our cognitive understanding of what is behind that intrusion that makes it an OCD one.