Journaling: A Tool to Help Treat PTSD

The AW2 Blog, the official blog of the Army's Wounded Warrior Program, recent ran an article about Journaling as a Tool to Treat PTSD.

"Journaling provides a vehicle which allows servicemembers and Veterans to begin to draw out their feelings and memories without the perceived risk of speaking about them," said author Michael Cain (no relation to the actor), who teaches journaling on a volunteer basis at Fort Bragg.

Cain's workbook for the course is not yet publicly available, but he said on his own blog that he hopes it will be more widely available soon.

Cain was also interviewed back in October by the Fayetteville Observer, where he says that journaling is not, as it is so often characterized, only for women. "The point is to get it out of their head rather than to have someone analyze it," Cain told the Observer. "As long as it's locked in their brain, it's going to fester."

Have you tried writing a journal (or even a blog) to explore your feelings about PTSD and your trauma? We'd love to hear your about it. 

Smartphone helps patients track their moods

Are you more anxious today than you were yesterday? More or less sad? Tired? Worried? A new smartphone app can help you track these feelings from day to day, charting the results for either yourself or you and your therapist.

The T2 Mood Tracker, available for Android smartphones, tracks the user's mood and general well-being. You can track how you're feeling each day:

...then use the app to see how your mood and emotions are changing over time:

In addition to adding a number value to their emotions, the user can also add notes about how they are feeling on a certain day.

The categories themselves change a bit depending on if the patient is monitoring stress, depression, brain injury, PTSD, or general health.

The free program was developed for and released by the Department of Defense to help service members and vets, who, statistically, are using their phones more than their laptops.

Perry Bosmajian, the psychologist who helped to develop the Mood Tracker, told the News Tribune: "The very first question a doctor or a therapist asks is 'How have you been doing since I saw you last?' Everything that follows is based on that answer. With this, it's all documented, how you're feeling."

Click the links above to find out more. And if you've used the T2 Mood Tracker, comment below and let everyone know what you think!