Improving Mental and Physical Wellness Through Reflective Journaling

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Reflective journaling is an effective adult learning method for making sense of and expanding knowledge. A patient’s application of reflective journaling after a medical appointment can greatly influence learning self-health approaches, enforce long-term memory, influence a change in the brain, and accelerate recovery. Applying this technique when suffering from PTSD, TBI, anxiety, or depression influences growth in the areas of the brain that empower healing.

"30 seconds"! Yells the jumpmaster as our C-17 Globemaster Aircraft approaches Keno Drop Zone. Adrenaline runs through my body as the 30 seconds seem to pass by slowly. Combined with adrenaline, cortisol is released as I worry and focus on the traumatic brain injury I sustained in separate airborne operation six months ago. The light turns green, and paratroopers begin exiting the doors of the aircraft. Handing off my static line to the safety, I exit the plane into the dark desert sky. What happened after jumping through the door of the aircraft is a mystery. The next thing I recall is standing in a hanger at Nellis Airforce Base, Nevada, with a pounding headache and a face full of cactus. 

It happened again, another head injury, but this time I experienced Transient Global Amnesia (TGA). TGA impacts the area of the brain responsible for converting short-term memories to long-term memories. Under TGA the body operates as expected, but nothing is being recorded in the brain until the hippocampus restores its functioning. 

After that night, the Intrepid Spirit brain injury clinic began treating my memory issues, difficulty concentrating, and other cognitive issues. My curiosity to understand more about that brain and the application of reflective journaling created growth that improved my cognition and memory. As I began researching brain injuries and methods to repair cognition, I would reflect on what I was learning, make sense of the research and record my reflective thoughts. Through this act of reflective journaling, not only did my cognition and memory improve, but I created a change in the areas of my brain that improved my ability to combat the emotions caused by stress and trauma. This self-help approach I took toward my injuries through reflective journaling built upon the medical provider’s advice and significantly accelerated my recovery. I didn’t view the doctor as responsible for fixing my brain injury. I viewed the doctor as my trusted medical advisor, and I was responsible for my recovery through a self-help approach guided by the doctor’s recommendations.

Creating a Patient-Centered Approach Through Reflective Journaling

Our nation’s current approach to medicine does not empower patients to develop a self-help approach to maintaining and improving health and wellness. The current system is provider-centered and patient-supported. It’s no fault on the doctors, it’s the medical establishment that rapidly processes patient after patient leaving very little time for a doctor to conduct a holistic assessment and determine the root causes of an illness or injury.

Self-help empowerment can be achieved when health care shifts to a patient-centered and provider-supported approach. A Nobel Peace Prize winner and one of the major players in psychotherapy, Carl Rogers developed the person-centered concept of counseling. He was convinced that people develop constructively if they encounter an appropriate interpersonal climate”. Rogers also emphasized “unleashing a sense of inquiry” and “free curiosity” in his patients. Roger’s approach can empower patients to lead in discovering the best methods to improve their current issues. This sense of inquiry and curiosity, combined with my desire to get better, led me to take a self-help approach and discover the options tailored to support my recovery from a brain injury.

Those seeking mental health treatment can develop a self-help approach and increase their healing by applying reflective journaling on their path toward growth. This empowers a self-help approach while also influencing physiological changes in the brain, developing habits, and increasing the areas of the brain that support stress management capabilities.

What is Reflective Journaling

In adult learning theory, reflective journaling is when learners write down the information taught and reflect and record their experiences. These experiences make sense of the learned knowledge and record the emotions associated with the information. I have applied this technique in college courses and religious studies, at work, and with every new information I learn. When I see a medical provider, my care is no longer provider-centered. It’s patient-centered, where I take responsibility for my health by reflecting on the advice given and discovering innovative approaches through personal reflection that will improve my health and wellness.  

Reflective journaling empowered me to discover innovative self-health approaches and reinforced the storage of these ideas into long-term memories. Effective reflective journaling requires the learner to reflect on the new knowledge and personal values, the current environmental variables they are facing, and make connections between the new knowledge and old knowledge. Through this application of reflective journaling, you can become empowered to discover the best approaches that will enable you to improve your mental and physical health.

Reflective Journaling and the Brain

The brain can change; ideas, thoughts, and behaviors may change because the brain is moldable. When a change occurs, this is called brain plasticity. Brain plasticity occurs in two methods; functional plasticity is when one portion of the brain responsible for a specific function is damaged, and a different area of the brain learns and takes on this function. Structural plasticity occurs during reflective journaling and when we begin to increase or change existing knowledge. When one applies reflective journaling after a visit with their behavioral health provider, neurons, or brain cells, begin to take these new ideas in the form of neurons and make connections with existing neurons. When learning occurs, two separate neurons make a new connection. The ends of neurons where these connections are made occur within the neuron’s synapses. The new connection between neurons is called synaptogenesis. Click here to watch a video to understand synaptogenesis and brain plasticity better.

Just visualize in the brain as a new piece of information is processed. The brain takes this information and assesses all the other data stored in the brain to find where it can best be connected. As the learner reflects on the new information through the lens of existing knowledge, the brain finds a common neuron to connect to. The greater value placed on the new information and your perceived need for survival that this new information provides influences a greater chance that this short-term information becomes stored into long-term information.  

Reflective Journaling as a Therauptuic Approach to PTSD, TBI, Anxiety, and Depression

Effective reflective journaling will create physiological changes through brain plasticity that empower one to heal from trauma at an accelerated pace. The prefrontal cortex is an area of the brain that, when strengthened, can greatly empower one to overcome the triggers of PTSD, anxiety, and depression and reverse the symptoms of a TBI. The prefrontal cortex (PFC) is responsible for making sense, problem-solving and critical thinking. Strengthening the PFC will make it easier to overcome the triggers influencing symptoms of PTSD, Anxiety, and Depression by increasing your ability to regulate emotions.

A study published in the Journal Brain, using an fMRI, found elevated PFC activity when several participants’ brains were monitored while engaged in reflective activities. Continued reflective activity will increase PFC activity signaling the brain to grow and maintain this new knowledge. Through reflective journaling, there will be an increase in executive functioning, creative thinking, and emotional regulation resulting in an increased ability to counter the triggers influencing mental health issues.

A study published in the Journal of Acta Psychiatrica Scandinavica, found that those with PTSD had decreased self-reflective capabilities caused by the trauma experienced. Those with PTSD are dealing with the triggers reminding them of their trauma, but at the same time, their ability to reflect has been reduced. The application of reflective journaling when living with PTSD may be a bit more complicated. Still, it will significantly improve the ability to cope and create changes in the brain to decrease these triggers.  

An Example of the Application of Reflective Journaling

A few years ago, I was introduced to the evidence-based mindfulness technique during a counseling session with a behavioral health therapist. The counselor explained that mindfulness is being in the moment, focusing on one thing, and clearing your mind of the various distractors of a busy mind full of worry. We practiced it together in the office. 

After our visit, I wrote down what I had learned about mindfulness and also wrote down the emotions I felt during the session. I began to reflect on the technique of mindfulness through the lens of my life and how mindfulness can better help me. I began to become curious about why mindfulness works and what happens inside the brain and body during mindfulness, and how does this help influence positive behavior? My curiosity led me to research the body’s physiological changes resulting from mindfulness. I learned to understand the autonomic nervous system, which consists of the sympathetic and parasympathetic systems.

I learned that mindfulness could reduce the negative emotional effects of the sympathetic nervous system, or your fight or flight, and put the mind at ease. This occurs because when the sympathetic nervous system reduces in activity and the parasympathetic nervous system responds, there is a decrease in the stress hormones influencing anxiety. I began to research more into mindfulness and discovered that mindfulness’s long-term effects increase the prefrontal cortex’s growth and can shrink the amygdala, the area of the brain influencing negative emotions caused by the environmental variables surrounding us.

Reflective journaling will not only shift medical care to patient-centered but will also increase longevity as the reflective process will create long-term memory storage of these self-help approaches. But there is another beneficial aspect of reflective journaling: I healed memory loss caused by two traumatic brain injuries. We can all take a self-help approach to our health and wellness and accelerate our recovery through a patient-centered approach with the application of reflective journaling. Reflective journaling is a form of mindfulness, and plenty of research has demonstrated the effectiveness of mindfulness in dealing with mental health issues. Mindfulness is an evidence-based approach that has been proven to increase the capability of the PFC and empower one to overcome the automatic learned responses that trigger PTSD, anxiety, and depression.

References

Bluhm, R. L., Frewen, P. A., Coupland, N. C., Densmore, M., Schore, A. N., & Lanius, R. A. (2011). Neural correlates of self-reflection in post-traumatic stress disorder. Acta Psychiatrica Scandinavica, 125(3), 238–246. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1600-0447.2011.01773.x

How Brain Neurons Change Over Time From Life Experience. (2021, February 21). Verywell Mind. https://www.verywellmind.com/what-is-brain-plasticity-2794886

Johnson, S. C. (2002). Neural correlates of self-reflection. Brain, 125(8), 1808–1814. https://doi.org/10.1093/brain/awf181

Kwik, J. (2020). Limitless: Upgrade Your Brain, Learn Anything Faster, and Unlock Your Exceptional Life (Illustrated ed.). Hay House Inc.

Lazar, S. W., Kerr, C. E., Wasserman, R. H., Gray, J. R., Greve, D. N., Treadway, M. T., McGarvey, M., Quinn, B. T., Dusek, J. A., Benson, H., Rauch, S. L., Moore, C. I., & Fischl, B. (2005). Meditation experience is associated with increased cortical thickness. NeuroReport, 16(17), 1893–1897. https://doi.org/10.1097/01.wnr.0000186598.66243.19

Motschnig, R. (2014). Person-Centred Communication: Theory, Skills And Practice. Open University Press.

(Renate Motschnig, & Ladislav Nykl. (2014). Person-centred Communication: Theory, Skills and Practice. Open University Press.)

Reflective Journals and Learning Logs – NIU – Center for Innovative Teaching and Learning. (n.d.). Northern Illinois University. Retrieved August 28, 2021, from https://www.niu.edu/citl/resources/guides/instructional-guide/reflective-journals-and-learning-logs.shtml

Rogers, C. R. (1983). FREEDOM TO LEARN FOR THE 80’S. CHARLES E. MERRILL PUBLISHING COMPANY.

Synaptogenesis. (n.d.). Worm Book. Retrieved August 28, 2021, from http://www.wormbook.org/chapters/www_synaptogenesis/synaptogenesis.html#:%7E:text=Synaptogenesis%20is%20a%20process%20involving,%2D%20and%20post%2Dsynaptic%20specializations.

Transient global amnesia – Symptoms and causes. (2020, August 13). Mayo Clinic. https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/transient-global-amnesia/symptoms-causes/syc-20378531

About Post Author

Chris Pierce

chris.pierce23@gmail.com

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