Keep Writing

Decades of theory and empirical research suggest that writing has therapeutic potential.[1] Its therapeutic benefits make it the cheapest and closest alternative to talk therapy that I know of.

A common aim of many styles of talk therapy is to help the client identify, explore, express, and/or successfully regulate stress-related thoughts and feelings.[2,3] Another common aim is to foster the patient's autonomy and help him learn about and express himself.[4] These aims all require some level of independent, critical, and creative thinking on the part of the patient, which could arguably also be achieved through the use of writing.

Writing about traumatic events, and therapeutic writing modalities such as Expressive Writing, have been found to have comparable effects to traditional talk therapy.[5,6,7]

Expressive writing (EW) is an intervention that has been researched over the past 20 years, and is a great example of the power of writing. It involves writing about your thoughts and feelings concerning significant, typically stressful, experiences for about 15 to 30 minutes daily over a few days.[8] Among the numerous observed benefits of expressive writing are more effective coping, decreased stress-induced physical illness, decreased depressive symptoms, improved psychological well-being, and positive growth after trauma.[2] EW is typically guided by a counselor or therapist.

However, solitary writing, such as journaling or autobiographical writing, has also been found to be beneficial for mental health.[2,9] Why might this be? Writing gives you an opportunity to:

(1) express/release pent up/inhibited emotions and reduce the risk of stress-related symptoms

(2) exercise your thinking skills:

- you reframe or reappraise highly emotional content

- you externalize/re-author problems

- you learn to think in more helpful ways

- you shift poorly organized narratives and make them more coherent

- you make sense of negative events.

- you make meaning as opposed to simply expressing your feelings.

[2]

So, please just write!

Start with 10-20 minutes once per week. Schedule it in your calendar if you have to! Write about whatever you want. Just get a feel for putting your thoughts down on a page.

References

1. Smyth, J. M., & Greenberg, M. A. (2000). Scriptotherapy: The effects of writing about traumatic events. In P. R. Duberstein, & J. M. Masling (Eds.), Psychodynamic perspectives on sickness and health; psychodynamic perspectives on sickness and health (pp. 121-160, Chapter xl, 363 Pages) American Psychological Association, Washington, DC.

2. Kerner, E. A., & Fitzpatrick, M. R. (2007). Integrating writing into psychotherapy practice: A matrix of change processes and structural dimensions. Psychotherapy: Theory, Research, Practice, Training, 44(3), 333-346.

3. Lepore, S. J., & Smyth, J. M. (2002). The writing cure: An overview. In S. J. Lepore, & J. M. Smyth (Eds.), The writing cure: How expressive writing promotes health and emotional well-being (pp. 3-14, Chapter xii, 313 Pages) American Psychological Association, Washington, DC.

4. McWilliams, N. (1999). The Relationship between Case Formulation and Psychotherapy. In Psychoanalytic Case Formulation. New York: Guilford Press.

5. Esterling, B. A., L'Abate, L., Murray, E. J., & Pennebaker, J. W. (1999). Empirical foundations for writing in prevention and psychotherapy: Mental and physical health outcomes. Clinical Psychology Review, 19(1), 79-96.

6. Murray, E. J., Lamnin, A. D., & Carver, C. S. (1989). Emotional expression in written essays and psychotherapy. Journal of Social and Clinical Psychology, 8(4), 414-429.

7. Donnelly, D. A., & Murray, E. J. (1991). Cognitive and emotional changes in written essays and therapy interviews. Journal of Social and Clinical Psychology, 10(3), 334-350.

8. Pennebaker, J. W. (1997). Writing about emotional experiences as a therapeutic process. Psychological Science, 8(3), 162-166.

9. Gestwicki, R. (2001). Ira progoff (1921–1998): The creator of the intensive journal method and a new profession. Journal of Humanistic Psychology, 41(3), 53-74.