Good news! It isn’t only writers who understand and can attest to the feel-good benefits of writing. Scientific research also supports the healing effect of writing.
Writing about emotions and stress may even support the immune system. There are physical benefits to those battling terminal or life-threatening illnesses. That makes a lot of sense, as we know that suppressing our feelings can negatively affect our health and cause us stress.
It's important to note that the healing effect of writing is enhanced when the writer uses it to understand, process, and interpret their experiences, thoughts, and feelings. As psychologist Dr Joshua Smyth of Syracuse University says, venting emotions is not enough on its own to relieve stress and improve health.
The Healing Effect of Writing: Changing the Lived Experience through Writing
Joyce Hocker, a former professor at the University of Montana, recommended to a rape victim that she journal about her experience. (The therapy sessions included counselling.) After she journalled, Hocker recommended that she do a rewrite, giving her these options:
Think about what help she wished she could have called on at the time of the event
Consider what she was learning about her resilience
Write an alternative ending to the event that interrupted the violence.
The woman chose the latter and when she next read out her writing, she decided she was going to give the alternative ending more time in her imagination.
She was able to ‘write herself out’ of victim mode and empower herself instead.
Help from a Writing Coach
When you're processing a traumatic event or emotional blocks through writing, it can be really helpful to work with a writing coach. That's why I created my new program, Writing to Heal: Metamorphosis. If you feel you'd like guidance and support on your writing to heal journey, you can book a Discovery Call with me and have a chat about whether this is the best option for you.
The Healing Effect of Writing on People Suffering Physical Illnesses
In a study led by Smyth published in the Journal of the American Medical Association (Vol. 281, No. 14) in 1999, a group of asthma and rheumatoid arthritis patients wrote for twenty minutes for three consecutive days. Part of the group wrote about the most stressful event of their lives. The rest wrote about their daily plans, an emotionally neutral subject.
Four months after the writing exercise, most of the patients in the stressful-writing group showed improvement. Those who wrote about stress generally got better and deteriorated less than the control groups.
Pennebaker
Dr James Pennebaker of the University of Texas was one of the first scientists to study the relationship between expressive writing and healing in the late 1980s. He said, ‘By writing, you put some structure and organization to those anxious feelings. It helps you to get past them.’ He compares writing with therapy, saying that people who simply talk about the same experiences in the same ways do not improve. They need to grow and change in how they view their experiences.
Another study by Pennebaker indicated that dealing with emotional trauma through expressive writing can improve immune system functioning. Participants wrote about either a non-emotional or an emotional event with or without thought suppression. In the emotional writing group, the results showed a significant increase in lymphocytes and immune system functioning. In the thought suppression group, participants showed a significant decrease in lymphocyte levels.
“If we can create a cohesive personal narrative of our lives and if we can link up our emotions with specific events, then we have the power to take control of how those emotions and events affect our lives”—James W Pennebaker, Opening Up
Wound Healing
A further study on the healing effect of writing examined the effect of expressive writing on wound healing in older adults. The experimental group participated in expressive writing for three consecutive days, twenty minutes a day. The control group spent the same amount of writing time, but simply wrote about daily activities. Two weeks later, all participants were given a biopsy wound on their arm. After eleven days, the wound of seventy-six per cent of the participants in the expressive writing group healed. In the control group, only forty-two per cent experienced healing.
Concluding Words
Simply writing in a diary or journaling about a traumatic event isn’t the same as expressive writing. On its own, it is unlikely to have health benefits. Constantly mulling over and repeatedly writing about a traumatic event without reflecting on and processing the trauma may negatively affect health.
The healing effect of writing is scientifically proven. However, it’s important to note that writing as a tool for healing will not help everyone. The healing effect of writing lies in the individual writer’s ability to make sense of their experience, to evaluate the experience honestly and deeply.
Acknowledgements for The Healing Effect of Writing
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