David Baxter PhD
Late Founder
Write it down, let go, feel way better
October 24, 2005
Tallahassee Democrat
Keeping a journal can be good for your health. Writing helps people reduce stress, concentrate better and handle emotionally demanding situations. It also can reduce the negative impact of traumatic experiences.
To reap the health rewards, writers should really "let go" and explore their thoughts and emotions.
"Research suggests that when people write about emotional upheavals in their lives, improvements in physical and psychological health can result," said James W. Pennebaker, chair of the department of psychology at the University of Texas at Austin, who has discovered the link between expressive writing and health benefits.
Writing reduces stress by helping people to acknowledge an experience, Pennebaker said. It also enables them to put together the pieces of an event and understand what happened.
By enabling clearer thinking, expressive writing helps individuals get past trauma. It also helps them improve their social relationships as they get better at talking, laughing and being more at ease with others, Pennebaker said.
Through writing, people are able to observe their patterns of behavior and how they handle various situations, said George Holmes, a psychologist at the University of South Carolina School of Medicine.
"If you have to write something, you have to sit down, reflect on the events, put them in some kind of order," he said. "And as you're doing that, there's a certain level of mastery of the situation or anxiety that occurs."
But although "spilling the guts" can be healthy in some situations, it might not be in other cases, according to Louise Sundararajan, a psychologist at Rochester Psychiatric Center in New York, who studied college students whose parents divorced.
Writing about neutral subjects can be beneficial, as long as the language used is appropriate to the context of what is being written, Sundararajan reported last month at a meeting of the American Psychological Association.
In some instances, when people are emotionally upset, it might be better to focus on things other than the trauma, Holmes said.
Creative expressions such as poetry also help people to capture moments and channel their feelings, said Holmes, a fledgling poet.
When journaling, people should experiment to see what kind of writing works best for them. Here are some suggestions from Pennebaker:
Find a time and place where you won't be disturbed. Ideally, pick a time at the end of your workday or before you go to bed.
Promise yourself that you will write for a minimum of 15 minutes a day for at least three or four consecutive days.
Once you begin writing, write continuously. Don't worry about spelling or grammar. If you run out of things to write about, just repeat what you have already written.
You can write longhand or you can type on a computer. If you are unable to write, you can also talk into a tape recorder.
Write about:
October 24, 2005
Tallahassee Democrat
Keeping a journal can be good for your health. Writing helps people reduce stress, concentrate better and handle emotionally demanding situations. It also can reduce the negative impact of traumatic experiences.
To reap the health rewards, writers should really "let go" and explore their thoughts and emotions.
"Research suggests that when people write about emotional upheavals in their lives, improvements in physical and psychological health can result," said James W. Pennebaker, chair of the department of psychology at the University of Texas at Austin, who has discovered the link between expressive writing and health benefits.
Writing reduces stress by helping people to acknowledge an experience, Pennebaker said. It also enables them to put together the pieces of an event and understand what happened.
By enabling clearer thinking, expressive writing helps individuals get past trauma. It also helps them improve their social relationships as they get better at talking, laughing and being more at ease with others, Pennebaker said.
Through writing, people are able to observe their patterns of behavior and how they handle various situations, said George Holmes, a psychologist at the University of South Carolina School of Medicine.
"If you have to write something, you have to sit down, reflect on the events, put them in some kind of order," he said. "And as you're doing that, there's a certain level of mastery of the situation or anxiety that occurs."
But although "spilling the guts" can be healthy in some situations, it might not be in other cases, according to Louise Sundararajan, a psychologist at Rochester Psychiatric Center in New York, who studied college students whose parents divorced.
Writing about neutral subjects can be beneficial, as long as the language used is appropriate to the context of what is being written, Sundararajan reported last month at a meeting of the American Psychological Association.
In some instances, when people are emotionally upset, it might be better to focus on things other than the trauma, Holmes said.
Creative expressions such as poetry also help people to capture moments and channel their feelings, said Holmes, a fledgling poet.
When journaling, people should experiment to see what kind of writing works best for them. Here are some suggestions from Pennebaker:
Find a time and place where you won't be disturbed. Ideally, pick a time at the end of your workday or before you go to bed.
Promise yourself that you will write for a minimum of 15 minutes a day for at least three or four consecutive days.
Once you begin writing, write continuously. Don't worry about spelling or grammar. If you run out of things to write about, just repeat what you have already written.
You can write longhand or you can type on a computer. If you are unable to write, you can also talk into a tape recorder.
Write about:
- Something that you are thinking or worrying about too much
- Something that you are dreaming about
- Something that you feel is affecting your life in an unhealthy way
- Something that you have been avoiding for days, weeks or years.
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