We sell one of the journals on this page, so read it with that in mind. The others are here because people search for them, and because some of them will suit you better than ours. A journal you will open on a bad day beats a journal that is right on paper.
What to look for
- Structure or space. Some journals give you a page to fill in every day, with boxes and trackers. Others give you a few tools and then leave the page to you. Daily structure helps if you like being told what to do next. It can feel like homework if you do not.
- Dated or undated. A dated journal you skip for a fortnight shows you the gap. An undated one does not.
- Does it lie flat. Wire binding opens flat on the table, so you can write near the spine with one hand. Glued paperbacks and stitched hardbacks tend to close on you.
- Who made it, and from what. A therapist writes one kind of journal. A person who has used the tools on their own bad days writes another. Neither is better; they are different.
- Price. Around £10 for a paperback, £17 to £26 for a wire-bound or hardback journal, more for hand-made.
Six journals, side by side
| Journal | Price | Format | Approach | Made by |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lovendu Anxiety Journal | £26 | A5 hardback, 215 pages, undated, 15 weeks of daily pages | CBT exercises, gratitude, mood and habit trackers, mindfulness pages | Lovendu (UK stationery brand); 167 reviews |
| The STILL Method: 90 Days With Your Nervous System | £25 | Wire-bound, lies flat, 285 pages, 90 structured days, printed in the UK | Morning and evening entries in three phases, weekly reflection, quick tools | Stuart Thompson, social worker, 25 years in anxiety work |
| The Anxiety Journal (Corinne Sweet) | £9.99 | Paperback, 224 pages | CBT and mindfulness exercises for phobias, social anxiety and general worry | Corinne Sweet, psychotherapist and author |
| The Anxiety Recovery Journal | £16.99 | Paperback | Creative activities to keep yourself well | Cara Lisette, CBT therapist, and Anneli Roberts, advocate; sold by a neurodivergent-run bookshop |
| Fabulous Planning Anxiety Spiral Journal | about £30 upwards, priced in dollars | A5 hardback spiral, opens flat, 200+ pages, 26 cover designs | Prompted pages with sticker sheet and tabs | Hand-made in Great Britain |
| Self-Soothing Journal (ours) | £18.99 | A5 wire-bound, lies flat, 140 pages, undated, printed to order in the UK | Seven coping skills up front from DBT and similar approaches, then reflection sheets, creative pages, colouring and free writing with prompts | Kari, former NHS Lived Experience Professional; on sale from September 2026, no reviews yet |
Prices and page counts are as shown on each seller’s page on 5 September 2026. They change; check before you buy.
Each one, in a sentence or two
Lovendu Anxiety Journal. The most structured of the six: a daily page with gratitude, trackers and a CBT exercise, for fifteen weeks. If a full page of boxes each day sounds steadying rather than heavy, this is the one people most often buy, and it has the most reviews.
90 Days With Your Nervous System. A programme in a journal, ten minutes morning and evening for ninety days, written by a social worker who has worked in anxiety for decades. It lies flat and is printed in the UK. Best if you want to be taken through something from start to finish.
The Anxiety Journal by Corinne Sweet. The cheapest way to try CBT-style journaling, from a psychotherapist, in a paperback you can carry anywhere. It will not lie flat, and it is a book to work through rather than a place to pour things out.
The Anxiety Recovery Journal. Creative activities from a CBT therapist and a mental health advocate, sold by a bookshop that stocks only disabled and neurodivergent authors. Worth a look if drawing and making suit you more than writing; it sells out, so check stock.
Fabulous Planning Anxiety Spiral Journal. Hand-made in Britain with a choice of covers, stickers and tabs, and it opens flat. The nearest in feel to a personal, decorated journal. Priced in dollars, so the cost moves with the exchange rate.
Self-Soothing Journal. Ours. Kari made her own journals by hand for years for her own anxious and low days, and this is that journal printed properly: small calming skills at the front, then space. Undated, lies flat, thick pages that take glue and felt tips. It suits people who freeze at a blank page or who do not want a daily task. It went on sale in September 2026, so there are no reviews yet, and it is educational self-help, not therapy or medical advice.
How to choose on a bad day
- If you want to be told what to do each day, choose Lovendu or the STILL Method.
- If you want to spend under £10 and see whether journaling helps at all, choose Corinne Sweet’s paperback.
- If drawing, sticking and colouring calm you more than writing, choose the Anxiety Recovery Journal, Fabulous Planning, or ours.
- If the blank page is the problem, choose one with prompts on the page: Lovendu, the STILL Method, or ours.
Whichever you pick, how to start journaling for anxiety is free and applies to all of them, and so are the 30 prompts.
If today is a hard day rather than a shopping day, talk to someone: Samaritans 116 123, text SHOUT to 85258, Mind 0300 123 3393.