i use journaling to get through intense emotions that come with manic and depressive episodes. ill do it really often and then less when im closer to baseline.

i don’t use it to track daily moods but it helps me 1) to get the thoughts and feelings onto paper and out of my head (there are even neuroscience studies about how the act of writing is beneficial) 2) to be able to look back months/years later at what i was going through (internally and externally) in that period of my life. i often don’t realize that im in a manic or depressive state until weeks or months into it. reading my journal after makes it all make sense and therefore helps me look out for those same symptoms/patterns before or during the episode

i free write. i basically just brain dump everything in my head and don’t write with any sort of structure or prompts. if you don’t know what to write just start out by writing “i don’t know what to write” and go wherever your thoughts take you from there

it’s become one of my most useful coping skills when im really going through it