Scrappy answers:

When I'm journalingI write What I did that day, how I feel/felt, write poems/stories, letters to people I want to send but don't dare, (everything you listed), how I feel about people, secrets I find out about people, but don't want to tell, rumors so that I don't spread them, and more! I write about anything I feel like! And if I can't think of anything to write, I just doodle or work on my signature. You just write about what ever you feel like! It is your personal property, and you can do whatever you want! (Sorry, that was worded horribly!) No one will judge you on what you write, because no one will read that except you.

Good luck with your journal!

P.S.- It is so cool to go back and read what you wrote before! Remember what you liked, who you loved, etc... It is like a second brain, to store everything you want to remember, but probably wont!

Have Fun!

Scrappy answers:

I'm not sure about mental illness activities specifically, but a potentially decent activity is the list of 100 questions, or 100 facts about yourself or that you've learned from life.
Also, mandalas (which perhaps sounds a bit hippie dippie but can be fun) is something you can do with that involves pictures. You draw a circle, then choose images that represent yourself or something like that and draw them inside of it. Like, what kind of plant you are, stone, animal, and then your supposed to choose a shadow image (representing something you don't like about yourself) and a light image (something you do like) and so on.
Cheesy maybe? But fun with the right attitude.

Scrappy answers:

No, I do not blog or journal, but I disagree with your friend's idea that personal feelings shouldn't be expressed. The whole point of a blog or a journal is to express your personal opinion and your feelings to others who will listen and be affected by them. Your feelings involve everything - otherwise you would just be listing off things you have done or seen, and not why they were meaningful.

Face to face expression of feelings is sometimes better - since you can't see the other person's actions through written communication, it's harder to know what they actually think by looking at their body language. Written communication, journaling, is much easier to do although, and you're able to think about what you want to say and how to say it in a (in my case) non-offensive way.

Scrappy answers:

Writing journal's a way to express yourself esp. When you dont really feel like sharing your problems with other people.. Just yet or at all. During the process it usually helps you realize the problems a little better since when you're writing them down, they actually get processed by your brain a little more thoroughly than just thinking about them in your head. And when you have black-and-white copies of what your train of thoughts has been going, it helps you keep tracks of stressors and eventually when you feel more ready i.e. When your mood are not quite as low, you will be more able to seek out solutions based on the already organized thoughts on paper.

The things that you're doing like keeping yourself busy by keeping your journal and exercising are great!! But it's also important to know that you're doing them to relax or to give yourself a break, not in order to run away from the problem, eventually you'll have to lay them out and get some answers

take care!! I hope everything goes better for you

Scrappy answers:

I don't know of any studies (though I am certain they exist...maybe a google scholar search? I'm, alas, at work right now, so my time to answer is limited), but the general populace does seem to be in favor of it, though I doubt that most really understand why.

I know that there -are- studies that strongly suggest (and this is now generally accepted in the psychology world) that encouraging a person to take out their anger by hitting inanimate objects is -not- healthy and can lead to more aggression.

Using that as a baseline, I think that you are correct to question journaling as an emotional excercise for the reasons you stated. However, here's my take:

If one is journaling for a purpose, then I think one ought to know going into it what it is they want to get out of it. It's possible that one will just find oneself reliving memories best left alone otherwise.

journaling and letter-writing can be very helpful, however, for the following reasons:

After the blood-letting onto the page, many people feel a sense of relief, as though they have finally let something off their chest. Many find it easier to let go of long-held resentments when they write them down (because once they're staring you in the face, they often seem almost silly). Still others find it helps them gain clarity about their situation and what is really important about it, or why they might have come to think about something a particular way, or perhaps even why someone else might have taken the actions they did.

Most people don't realize why it's good to sometimes express your emotions...it enables self-growth when done in a healthy, reflective manner. journaling inherently carries with it a mode of expression -and- reflection all in one. Probably one of the reasons why it's a favorite tool of counselors and psychologists.

So to more directly answer your question: The only negative impacts it could really have would be those that would come from feeling an emotion but not reflecting on it constructively.

Hope that helps