Ever thought about keeping a diary? Finding out you’re pregnant is an excellent time to start putting pen to paper. Besides being a meaningful way to document your journey into motherhood, it seems releasing your inner Bridget Jones could have significant emotional health benefits, too. According to psychologists, writing in a diary can be a great form of therapy, especially during times of stress and emotional upheaval. And let’s face it, pregnancy, labour and motherhood are up there with some of life’s most exciting, rewarding and stressful times!

Emotional release

When you consider that one in 10 Australian women will experience depression during their pregnancy and one in seven will suffer postnatal depression, it makes sense to pay close attention to your emotional health during pregnancy and after bringing your little one home.

Although keeping a diary won’t necessarily prevent depression, reflective writing can definitely provide an emotional outlet when you need it most and help you better tune in to what’s going on inside your head.

Clinical psychologist Victoria Kasunic says keeping a diary is an excellent tool for self-awareness. “Reflecting on situations, thoughts, feelings and physical reactions is a great indicator of how we’re travelling,” she says. “It shows when our thoughts are becoming negative and distressing, an early warning sign for depression, and when our mood is consistently low – another warning sign. Journaling may be a way to assist new mothers to identify that they need to get more help.”

Positive outlook

Dr James W. Pennebaker, a professor of psychology and author of Writing to Heal, says people who write feel better about their lives. “People who engage in expressive writing report feeling happier and less negative than before writing. Similarly, reports of depressive symptoms... and general anxiety tend to drop in the weeks and months after writing about emotional upheavals.”

Find yourself

Jodie Hedley-Ward, mother of two and author of You Sexy Mother, a book inspired by her own diary entries after the birth of her daughter, says keeping a diary allows you to listen to your own voice. “Journaling can help drown out the noise long enough to make a decision that is unique, authentic and based solely on what is best for the mum in question, rather than the mother’s mother, the mother’s employer or society at large,” she says. “Although simple in theory, [this] is our greatest challenge as mums today. We are bombarded with so many ideas as to what represents the right way to parent, that drowning out the noise is an almost impossible task at times.”

Coping with loss

A diary can be a place to come to terms with loss in your own time, says counsellor Julie Parker. “Writing in a diary at a time of grief or loss is a way for people to ‘pour their heart out’ and write whatever they need to in an attempt to help make sense of what’s happened to them and find a way to move through it.”

Elizabeth, a mother of one, describes her diary as a friend who helped her through the heart-wrenching journey of infertility and the subsequent loss of her twin girls. “Keeping a diary helped me externalise my feelings and get it all out. It helped when I did fall pregnant, and with the feelings of loss when my twin girls passed away.”

Elizabeth says her diary helped her deal with depression on many levels. “To have a place to go to [where] no one can judge you, [where] you can reveal your innermost thoughts and feelings – it’s a comfort, a friend, a safe haven. Externalising these feelings helped me take a breather, allowed me to feel and helped lighten the load.”

A handy guide

Mum-of-two Traci found the diary she kept through her first pregnancy was a comfort when it came time to have her second child. “The diary from my first pregnancy helped remind me that the things I was going through with number two were normal. I felt much more relaxed when I read over the details of my first, which had some stressful and emotional periods.”

But as well as being a practical and helpful tool, let’s not forget that a diary is also a meaningful way to capture the experience of motherhood! Those feelings and stories you jot down will be wonderful to look back on to recall that special time in your life.

What type of diary?

Everyone’s different, but however you choose to catalogue your experience you’ll have a keepsake to cherish in years to come.

Traditional girl

Tools A beautiful notebook and pen.

Tips You can find gorgeous diaries in newsagencies and discount and department stores, or you can create your own – anything that inspires you to sit down quietly and jot down your thoughts daily.

Modern maven

Tools Access to a computer and the internet.

Tips If you love technology and don’t mind sharing your thoughts with the world, why not create your own blog?

Artistic soul

Tools A scrapbook, glue, pens and photographs.
Tips A big scrapbook with lots of room to express your creative side might be more your style.

You can stick in pictures and mementos of your journey along with your daily musings.

Visual vixen

Tools Access to a digital video camera and DVDs for burning.

Tips If you don’t mind the camera you can create your own video diary. What a great way to share the journey of pregnancy with your little one when she’s all grown up!

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* Create your own online diary/blog