The Science Behind Emotional Journaling

Mental health problems impact 14% of 10-19-year-olds worldwide, and this figure is rising.

In 2023, 1 in 5 UK children had a probable mental disorder. Six years prior, this figure was 1 in 3, suggesting that an additional two children per classroom are now experiencing problems with their mental well-being. The 7.8% rise in the proportion of 8-16-year-olds with a probable mental disorder since 2017 is highly concerning.

This could have adverse effects on the education of children and adolescents in the UK as attendance, cooperation, and concentration can be decreased by mental health problems. Students are less likely to experience a school’s nurturing environment, which shapes them into fully-fledged members of society.

Dr Ruth Wadman, Research Fellow in the Department of Health Sciences at the University of York and for the Age of Wonder Adolescent Mental Health Collaboratory, stated: “Our children and young people need good mental health and wellbeing to develop and flourish. There is an urgent need to step up our efforts to prevent mental health conditions and to intervene early when they emerge.”

The increase in mental health difficulties among UK schoolchildren is difficult for professionals to tackle. It is placing additional strain on already overstretched resources as schools must navigate solutions to counteract this wide-scale issue.

“Our children and young people need good mental health and wellbeing to develop and flourish. There is an urgent need to step up our efforts to prevent mental health conditions and to intervene early when they emerge.”
Dr Ruth Wadman, Research Fellow in the Department of Health Sciences at the University of York and for the Age of Wonder Adolescent Mental Health Collaboratory

The Positive Influences of Journalling

Recent research into journalling’s benefits boasts its positive impact on physical health and social and behavioral factors. Expressive writing has been shown to improve many elements of physical health (such as immune function, blood pressure, lung function, liver function, sleep, and reducing days spent in hospital). The mental benefits of journalling are also of great importance.

A particular study of note came from Cambridge UP in 2018, as Karen A. Baikie and Kay Wilhelm conducted research on the emotional and physical benefits of expressive writing for students. Participants wrote about events that they found emotional and stressful for 15-20 minutes on 3-5 occasions.

Results revealed the positive effects of journalling, many of which directly impacted the students’ school life:

Improved mood/affect
Improved working memory
A feeling of greater psychological well-being
Improved sporting performance
Reduced depressive symptoms before examinations
Higher students’ grade point average
Fewer post-traumatic intrusion and avoidance symptoms
Altered social and linguistic behavior
Reduced absenteeism

The study reflected the wide-ranging benefits that journalling gave students and concluded that expressive writing should be used as a therapeutic tool.

As the research shows, dedicating a short amount of time to writing thoughts and feelings can have a transformative impact. Many of the benefits of this holistic exercise can combat mental health problems in schools.

For example, anxiety disorders are prevalent among children and young people, with 28% of 12-18-year-olds in the UK avoiding school due to anxiety. Anxiety is preventing many pupils from attending their classes and receiving an education. However, 65% of participants in one study reported that journalling improved their ability to manage stress, and another study found that journalling decreased anxiety and stress scores.

Moreover, mood disorders are also responsible for a large portion of mental health issues, with nearly 80,000 children and young people in the UK experiencing depression. 87% of respondents in one study saw journalling as a form of self-therapy, and 74% in a separate trial agreed that this form of emotional venting was beneficial to them. Journalling also lowered depression scores amongst a different set of participants.

Whilst this holistic approach alone can’t comprehensively treat children and young people with mental health issues, research suggests that journalling could be massively beneficial to pupils. School can be a source of stress for a multitude of reasons, and journalling can boost student wellbeing by providing an outlet to alleviate these anxieties.

Once students experience the copious benefits of journalling, there will be reduced pressure on school mental health services, allowing staff to focus on providing quality education.

How ECINS Can Help

Applying this research, ECINS has developed a resource that boosts student well-being and combats mental health issues in schools. The ECINS Student Engagement Module (SEM) features a mood tracker designed with student well-being in mind. The mood tracker is an outlet for students to disclose their concerns and emotional problems via an app or web browser that they can access on any internet device (computer, mobile phone, tablet, etc.).

MyPortal360 protects the information logged in the SEM mood tracker and can only be accessed by trusted staff members. The guaranteed privacy and security of ECINS’s system enables students to disclose information freely. Staff have real-time access to the entries made, so any student safety and security concerns inputted into the mood tracker can be addressed and resolved. Writing entries and selecting an emoji corresponding to their mood allows students to experience the therapeutic benefits of journalling and gives staff a tool to manage students’ mental well-being.

The SEM has a variety of features that support students and reduce staff workload to improve school efficiency:

Task setter
Mood tracker
Attendance tracker
Calendar
Help + Advice documents
Chat function

The ECINS Student Engagement Module is helping schools address the student mental health crisis head-on by supporting students and staff alike so that classroom time is as productive as possible.

Sources

https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/adolescent-mental-health#:~:text=Globally%2C%20it%20is%20estimated%20that,remain%20largely%20unrecognized%20and%20untreated.

https://www.place2be.org.uk/about-us/news-and-blogs/2023/november/new-report-from-nhs-england-shows-increase-in-children-experiencing-mental-health-difficulties/#:~:text=23.3%25%20of%2011%2D16%20year,compared%20to%2059.8%25%20in%202022)

https://researchbriefings.files.parliament.uk/documents/LLN-2024-0010/LLN-2024-0010.pdf

https://www.york.ac.uk/news-and-events/news/2024/research/urgent-childrens-mental-health

https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/advances-in-psychiatric-treatment/article/emotional-and-physical-health-benefits-of-expressive-writing/ED2976A61F5DE56B46F07A1CE9EA9F9F – evidence for all physical benefits apart from sleep

https://www.proquest.com/docview/1686112871?%20Theses&fromopenview=true&pq-origsite=gscholar&sourcetype=Dissertations%20 – evidence of sleep as a benefit

https://www.cambridge.org/core/services/aop-cambridge-core/content/view/ED2976A61F5DE56B46F07A1CE9EA9F9F/S1355514600002479a.pdf/emotional-and-physical-health-benefits-of-expressive-writing.pdf

https://www.theguardian.com/society/2024/feb/02/almost-three-in-10-secondary-pupils-in-uk-avoiding-school-because-of-anxiety#:~:text=Almost%20three%20in%2010%20secondary,have%20felt%20unable%20to%20cope.

https://mental.jmir.org/2018/4/e11290

http://cmja.arakmu.ac.ir/browse.php?a_code=A-10-57-1&sid=1&slc_lang=en

https://www.youngminds.org.uk/media/xl2nf0df/young-minds-depression.pdf