Can AI journaling reduce stress and anxiety?
By Siri Bandagiriye · It can help. Getting stress out of your head and onto a page often makes it feel smaller, and it shows you patterns. It won't remove the cause, though: if a job, an exam or a relationship is behind the stress, the change still happens in your life.
It can help you get stress out of your head and onto a page, which often makes it feel smaller. It can also help you notice a pattern, such as the same worry every Sunday night.
What it won't do is remove the cause. If the stress comes from a job, an exam or a relationship, journaling helps you see it clearly. The change still happens out in your life.
Saati's guided practices, like Find a Way, are built to end in one small, doable step for exactly that reason.
What the research says
In a 2025 study, a single online self-compassion writing session with ChatGPT feedback significantly reduced anxiety, and the authors concluded the AI feedback enhanced the exercise.1
In a randomized trial of 70 adults with elevated anxiety, 12 weeks of online positive-affect journaling was linked to less depression and anxiety after one month compared with usual care.2
A review of 20 journaling trials found some evidence of benefit, but high variation between studies makes the size of the effect uncertain.3
Written by Siri Bandagiriye
I've been a Buddhist monk and mindfulness teacher for 30 years, and for six years a chaplain with Correctional Service Canada, sitting with people in crisis. I built Saati in Halifax as a companion for the ordinary hard days. If you'd like to see what it's like, it's free to try.
References
- Internet Interventions, Single online self-compassion writing intervention reduces anxiety: with the feedback of ChatGPT (2025)
- JMIR Mental Health, Smyth et al., Online Positive Affect Journaling RCT (2018)
- Family Medicine and Community Health, Sohal et al., Efficacy of journaling in the management of mental illness (2022)