Many people associate diary-keeping with the tortured musings of adolescents dealing with romantic crushes or social isolation.

There is some truth to this stereotype, since a 2023 survey by Statista found that fully one fifth of American participants aged 14 to 25 engaged in journaling to help them manage their mental health. Yet adults actually may do so at even higher rates: a 2025 YouGov survey found that only 47 percent of respondents said they “never” write about their personal thoughts.

But what makes this activity so popular? The simple answer is that it seems to make you feel better.

This intuitive belief has been the subject of much research on what researchers call expressive writing or emotional disclosure. Crucially, this refers to writing down one’s feelings and reactions as opposed to just recording the events of one’s day.

What Research Tells Us About the Benefits of Emotional Disclosure

James Pennebaker, a psychologist at the University of Texas, conducted pioneering work on this topic beginning in the 1980s. He and his collaborators asked college students to write about traumatic personal experiences for short periods across several days. Compared to a control group writing about mundane topics, those who had written about their significant emotional experiences were found to benefit in a variety of ways.

Across Pennebaker's studies, it's been demonstrated that the expressive writing participants report lower levels of distress and depression, fewer physical symptoms, and even better grades. The researchers also documented, in follow-ups........

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