If you're in your 20s and you've been scrolling through old pictures and thinking, "Who was I even back then?" you may be onto something more useful than nostalgia. According to a Cornell University study, ‘Strengthening self-continuity to reduce depressive symptoms and derailment: A multiphasic mixed-methods randomized controlled trial,’ published in the Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, journaling about who you used to be, at different points in your life, helped ease depression in a group of young adults. Researchers screened nearly 260 people online, and 111 who had at least moderate depression symptoms completed a two-week journaling exercise. Two months later, those who had journaled about their identity reported significantly fewer symptoms than a control group.
The paper reports a three-phase design: first, 242 emerging adults completed baseline measures of derailment, self-continuity, and depressive symptoms; then 112 eligible participants were randomized to a derailment-focused journaling exercise or a neutral reflective-writing control. Over the two-week intervention, the journaling group answered five prompts about childhood, middle school, high school, college, and their desired future, and the gains were still evident two months later.
A US-focused reason to care
This is not theoretical. Rates of depression have been rising among American adults under 30 for years. According to Gallup's tracking of U.S. depression rates, 28% of U.S. adults ages 18 to 29 are reportedly depressed in 2026, compared with 13% in 2017, and more than any other age cohort today.
According to Gallup's tracking of U.S. depression rates, 28% of U.S. adults ages 18 to 29 were depressed in 2026, more than the 13% of that age group who were depressed in 2017, and more than any other age cohort today. Therapy waitlists are long, insurance is a pain, and a lot of 20-somethings just want something they can try on their own in the meantime. That’s the gap this study is talking about.
What the researchers actually did
Researchers split the participants into two groups. The control group journaled about mundane things, like going to the grocery store. The experimental group spent two weeks responding to five prompts about their motivations, passions, and goals at various stages of life, from early childhood to college to their desired future, and how each stage influenced their current path. They also recorded their identity at each stage in one word, such as “sapling,” “determined,” or “inquisitive,” and then reflected on those words together.
