Illness Management and Recovery / IMR-A09-5
Coping with Persistent Experiences — Review journal
Review an attempt at coping with persistent experiences and choose what to keep, change, or leave aside.
10 minutes · Journal prompts · Adults; supported use as appropriate
Fictional example: Casey finds a familiar activity helpful when distracting experiences increase.
Use an ordinary or fictional example, with a clinician when appropriate. Coping options should be individualized and evaluated for fit.
Before looking back
Choose one ordinary attempt or decide to review the fictional example instead. This journal has no scores, required disclosure, or expectation of progress.
Revisit the practice
Compare an external focus task, a structured activity, and a support conversation for an ordinary difficult experience.
Notice context and impact
Record what actually happened, including an unhelpful or neutral outcome. Note resources, power differences, accessibility, and changed conditions rather than attributing everything to personal effort.
Choose a revision
Which option helps functioning without requiring you to deny the experience? Keep the approach, change one part, ask for support, or set it aside. A mismatch is useful information.
Prompts for this resource
- What I tried, or what happened in the fictional example:
- What I noticed before, during, and after; what remains uncertain:
- What helped, did not help, or was outside my control:
- Which option helps functioning without requiring you to deny the experience? My optional adjustment or support request:
Conceptual background
Illness Management and Recovery Evidence-Based Practices KIT — SAMHSA
Background on the approach only. Original exercises and wording are by More Than Therapy with AI assistance; the source does not validate or endorse these materials.