Expressive writing as a coping technique
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Expressive writing as a coping technique
Researchers believe that expressive writing mitigates conscious and unconscious stressors that cause inflammation and suppress the immune function. Expressive writing records your feelings about previously undisclosed trauma or other stressful events that occupy your mind more than you would like. You don't need to be a writer, aspire to be a writer or even be creative to benefit from it. Thousands of people have benefitted from a model of expressive writing first developed by James Pennebaker PhD in 1986. More than 300 research studies since then have demonstrated that expressive writing boosts thinking ability, improved working memory, reduce pain (emotional and physical)enhanced mood and sleep quality and positively influenced immune system functioning.
Expressive writing is different than journaling. Expressive writing aims to express feelings about a stressful event, a chronic illness, or a loss over several days and builds on it to make sense of those events and conditions. In studies of expressive writing, participants wrote for 15-30 minutes on four consecutive days about the most traumatic events in their lives. Writing continuously about the problem allowed participants to thoroughly examine events and how they were impacted by them.After the third day, participants were encouraged to write about the event from a different perspective and write in such a way as to place the event in context of their overall lives. Whining about something had no health benefits. Those who examined the event and put it into perspective had the best results.
Turning the memory into a story can be painful at first and sometimes people feel worse when they first begin expressive writing, much as seeing a powerfully emotional movie may make you sad an hour or two afterward. But soon the bad feeling subsides and often a new perspective emerges. Complete improvement in symptoms can take weeks or months to notice, but most people see improvement in 2-3 weeks.
To begin your own expressive writing research, follow these instructions per Pennebaker:
Days 1 and 2 - In your writing, really let go and explore your deepest emotions and thoughts about the most traumatic event in your entire life. You might tie this experience to other parts of your life. You might link your writing to your future and who you would like to become, or to who you have been, who you would like to be and who you are now. not everyone has a single trauma, but all of us have had stressors and conflicts and you can write about these as well. Don't worry about form, spelling, punctuation or grammar.
Day 3 - Now shift your writing to consider the topic from a different perspective or point of view. One of the easiest ways to do this is to write about yourself in third person, using your name and the pronouns he/she instead of "I". Write about how this event shaped your life and who you are.Explore those deep issues about which you may be especially vulnerable.
Day 4 - Now stand back and think about the events, issues, thoughts and feelings you have disclosed. Be really honest with yourself about this upheaval and do your best to wrap up this writing in a meaningful story that you will believe will be beneficial to you to take with you into the future.
Post-writing survey - After each day's writing, take a moment to reflect on your writing experience with a post writing survey.
Put a number from 0 to 10 after each question. 0 = Not at all, 5 = somewhat, 10 = a great deal.
1. To what degree did you express your deepest thoughts and feelings?
2. To what degree do you currently feel bad or upset?
3. To what degree do you feel happy?
4. To what degree was today's writing valuable and meaningful to you?
5. Briefly describe how your writing went. Write about the experience of describing your trauma and you feelings about it then and now.
Expressive writing for therapeutic purposes may also include writing about the positive feelings that you have achieved regarding challenging events through which you have been able to find benefit. Or keeping a gratitude list.
Expressive writing should do the following:
1. Provide a safe cathartic experience
2. Reduce stress that results fro suppressing your true feelings
3. Reduce reactionary behaviors in response to stimuli (e.g. drinking because of a stressful event)
4. Integrate traumatic events into the broader context of your life
5. Provide clarity and awareness
6. Enhance positive emotional responses
7. Increase social integration
8. Encourage movement from trauma to affirmation.
Suggested reading:
Writing as a Way of Healing - Louis DeSalvo
Wellness and Writing Connections - John Frank Evans
Write for Life - Sheppard Kominars
The Writing Cure - Stephn J Lepore and Joshua Morrison Smith
Writing to Heal - James Pennebaker
Expressive Writing - James Pennebaker
You Can Beat the Odds - Brenda Stockdale
Expressive writing is different than journaling. Expressive writing aims to express feelings about a stressful event, a chronic illness, or a loss over several days and builds on it to make sense of those events and conditions. In studies of expressive writing, participants wrote for 15-30 minutes on four consecutive days about the most traumatic events in their lives. Writing continuously about the problem allowed participants to thoroughly examine events and how they were impacted by them.After the third day, participants were encouraged to write about the event from a different perspective and write in such a way as to place the event in context of their overall lives. Whining about something had no health benefits. Those who examined the event and put it into perspective had the best results.
Turning the memory into a story can be painful at first and sometimes people feel worse when they first begin expressive writing, much as seeing a powerfully emotional movie may make you sad an hour or two afterward. But soon the bad feeling subsides and often a new perspective emerges. Complete improvement in symptoms can take weeks or months to notice, but most people see improvement in 2-3 weeks.
To begin your own expressive writing research, follow these instructions per Pennebaker:
Days 1 and 2 - In your writing, really let go and explore your deepest emotions and thoughts about the most traumatic event in your entire life. You might tie this experience to other parts of your life. You might link your writing to your future and who you would like to become, or to who you have been, who you would like to be and who you are now. not everyone has a single trauma, but all of us have had stressors and conflicts and you can write about these as well. Don't worry about form, spelling, punctuation or grammar.
Day 3 - Now shift your writing to consider the topic from a different perspective or point of view. One of the easiest ways to do this is to write about yourself in third person, using your name and the pronouns he/she instead of "I". Write about how this event shaped your life and who you are.Explore those deep issues about which you may be especially vulnerable.
Day 4 - Now stand back and think about the events, issues, thoughts and feelings you have disclosed. Be really honest with yourself about this upheaval and do your best to wrap up this writing in a meaningful story that you will believe will be beneficial to you to take with you into the future.
Post-writing survey - After each day's writing, take a moment to reflect on your writing experience with a post writing survey.
Put a number from 0 to 10 after each question. 0 = Not at all, 5 = somewhat, 10 = a great deal.
1. To what degree did you express your deepest thoughts and feelings?
2. To what degree do you currently feel bad or upset?
3. To what degree do you feel happy?
4. To what degree was today's writing valuable and meaningful to you?
5. Briefly describe how your writing went. Write about the experience of describing your trauma and you feelings about it then and now.
Expressive writing for therapeutic purposes may also include writing about the positive feelings that you have achieved regarding challenging events through which you have been able to find benefit. Or keeping a gratitude list.
Expressive writing should do the following:
1. Provide a safe cathartic experience
2. Reduce stress that results fro suppressing your true feelings
3. Reduce reactionary behaviors in response to stimuli (e.g. drinking because of a stressful event)
4. Integrate traumatic events into the broader context of your life
5. Provide clarity and awareness
6. Enhance positive emotional responses
7. Increase social integration
8. Encourage movement from trauma to affirmation.
Suggested reading:
Writing as a Way of Healing - Louis DeSalvo
Wellness and Writing Connections - John Frank Evans
Write for Life - Sheppard Kominars
The Writing Cure - Stephn J Lepore and Joshua Morrison Smith
Writing to Heal - James Pennebaker
Expressive Writing - James Pennebaker
You Can Beat the Odds - Brenda Stockdale
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Join Date: Feb 2014
Location: East Coast USA
Posts: 120,872
I have definitely used creative writing as an outlet and found it very therapeutic.
At times, emotions and events were current; at other times they were resurrected and, once again made raw and bare; during both times the writing provided a release.
At times, emotions and events were current; at other times they were resurrected and, once again made raw and bare; during both times the writing provided a release.
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