any tips for keeping an anxiety diary?

[blueboy87]

i think this would be a really good idea for me, it might allow me to better understand when and why i feel the ways that i do, hopefully i might be able to pinpoint some triggers and be better prepared for them.
but i really dont know where to start, has anyone else done something like this? does anybody have any tips or advice about this?

all help gratefully received.

[eva82]

My CBT therapist has me keeping a success journal, where I write down all of my successes for the day, no matter how big or small. For example, even if I stay off goggle for the day I can write it down. Or if I go out even though I'm feeling anxious, I write that down too. It's a more positive way at keeping track of your anxiety... Even if I had a bad day, but was able to do an hour of housework that is still a success.

In the past I have kept a journal of mostly my anxiety symptoms, worries, reaction to medication. It was helpful writing everything down, but I focused so much on the negative that reading it back would just give me the sense that I was getting no where. So I like my success journal a lot better. :)

[blueboy87]

thank you for the suggestion, that sounds really cool and positive.
staying off google for the day? i dont understand why google is a negative thing in this context, could you please explain.

[eva82]

LOL Oh sorry, forgot to mention I have severe health anxiety and my main problem is googling my symptoms until I scare myself into thinking the worse case senario! This is how my whole anxiety issues began... I had terrible headaches for days at a time, googled what I was feeling and convinced myself I had a brain tumor. Had my first panic attack that night (almost 3 years ago). So not googling anything health related is a huge success for me!

[blueboy87]

actually i should have realised that, because i can get that way from time to time. yeah actually google can be a very negative thing if used wrongly. i hope your issues get resolved

[NoPoet]

Luv2teach, that sounds like an amazing idea! A positivity diary! All I do is write about how rubbish I feel, it would be very helpful to try this! I'm starting CBT soon (hopefully) and have never had it before.

[vicky23]

I find keeping a dairy really helpful to see any patterns but also I find it quite therapeutic to write down at the time how I'm feeling because once you start to take the thoughts out of your head and onto paper it's sometimes easier to be objective about them.
The format depends on how you're feeling I guess. sometimes I just write a journal of my thoughts other times I do it in a more ordered way like this:
1st colomn what is the situation: are you out, at home. 2nd: thoughts i.e. I'm going mad, this is awful etc 3rd : feelings (i.e. anxious irritation depression) 3rd physical sensations e.g. butterflies, nausea etc 4th Behaviours: i.e. do you leave the shopping centre or are you pacing around the house etc 5th outcome- how long did the anxiety take to ease, have you learned any lessons from this etc

I've found it good to be able to look back if I'm feeling anxious then I can see well I've felt anxious a lot before as I can see in my journal but as it also says in their the anxiety did come down so I can get through this again.

Hope it helps you