TRY WRITING IT DOWN:
THE HEALING POWER OF EXPRESSIVE WRITING
BY DR. NURIT ISRAELI
“Fill your paper with the
breathing of your heart.” ~
William Wordsworth The novelist/poet
Margaret Atwood
said, “A word after
a word after a word
is power.” Our minds
encode experiences in
words, images, and sensory
impressions, and there
is power in venturing
inward and using words
to release thoughts and
feelings onto a page. In
the psychological literature,
expressive writing is
defined as writing about
one’s thoughts and feelings
using any form one prefers:
journals, letters, notes,
cards, poems, emails, etc. It connotes
expressing oneself in words
spontaneously, without regard to
writing conventions such as spelling,
grammar, sentence structure,
or punctuation. One can always
edit later if one chooses.
Expressive writing has been
widely researched, and there is
substantial scientific evidence that
it promotes both physical health
and psychological well-being.
When we write about what is in
our minds and in our hearts, we
feel better and get healthier. In
particular, expressive writing has
the power to facilitate coping with
the emotional fallout of stressful
life situations. Translating personal
traumas into words can be healing.
It can help us explore, reflect, bear
witness, discover layers of meaning,
move beyond. As the novelist Paulo
Coehlo said, “Tears are words that
need to be written.”
The most seminal researcher on
the efficacy of expressive writing has
been Dr. James Pennebaker. He and
his collaborator, Dr. Joshua Smyth,
produced a considerable body of
research documenting the ways in
which expressive writing reduces
stress, promotes self-understanding,
eases emotional pain, aids in physical
healing, boosts the immune system,
increases optimism, and fosters
a sense of connectedness. Their
findings have been corroborated
by other researchers around the
world and are summarized in the
2016 edition of their book, Opening
Up by Writing It Down. They and
many others studied the impact
of expressive writing on patients
battling life-threatening illnesses,
war veterans, and other survivors of
trauma, and found positive health
effects (lower blood pressure and
heart rate levels, lower muscle tension,
fewer reported symptoms and
doctor visits, reduced anxiety, and
alleviation of depression-related
symptoms).
There are explanations. Writing
requires taking time to turn inward.
The actual act of writing is an act
of disinhibition – releasing emotion
rather than suppressing it – and
that in itself is healing. Writing
offers a safe outlet. It is cathartic.
Imagine feeling truly angry at
someone and releasing the feeling
of anger by writing it down. You
can then just crumple the page up
and throw it away. It helps letting
go... Sometimes writing is an easier
way of unburdening ourselves than
talking, at least initially. Putting
things down on a page may allow
us to explore sensitive issues before
we are ready to talk about them.
In addition to expressing emotions,
writing helps organize
thoughts. It fosters an intellectual
process that may replace brooding
or rumination. By writing, we are
translating events into language.
Once events are encoded linguistically,
we are better able to assimilate
them, reflect on them, gain perspective,
come up with solutions, and
attain closure. My father, when
faced with important life decisions,
used to write notes to himself, saying:
“I am now exchanging words
with a wise man who knows me
well...”
Writing is a pro-active pursuit
which is under our full control: The
empty page is ours to fill any way
we choose. This is helpful at times
when we deal with things we cannot
control. It provides us with opportunities
to develop a voice, review,
seek solutions. I am rereading Julia
Cameron’s book: The Right to Write
(highly recommended). According
to her, “We should write because
writing brings clarity and passion
to the act of living… We should
write because writing is good for
the soul…”
Some researchers believe that
writing helps regulate affect: It balances
brainwave activity of the two
brain hemispheres. The language
areas of the brain are typically
located in the left temporal cortex.
Emotions, especially negative
feelings, are processed in the right
frontal areas. Applying language
to emotions integrates the two
hemispheres.
Expressive writing can
also be a powerful means
of interpersonal communication,
if or when we
decide to share what we
have written. In coaching
individuals for conflict
laden encounters, I
often suggest to begin by
writing a note to oneself,
not meant to be shared,
including all that one
would like to say, uncensored.
Writing to yourself
provides an opportunity
to vent pent-up frustrations
without paying the
price you would have had
to pay if you would have
chosen to spontaneously
bludgeon the person who
is the perceived cause of
your distress... You can
say freely and without censoring all
that you cannot say out loud. Then,
you may choose to work through
the feelings and rewrite as many
drafts of your note as needed, until
you can translate raw emotions into
effective communication.
I encourage you to try. Your
way! A note, a few sentences in
your daily minder, a letter, an
email... Initially, write for yourself,
and write whatever comes out.
Express what is on your mind and
in your heart. Let the writing be
personal and emotional, coming
from your core, without regard
to form or other writing conventions.
Remember, the essence of
expressive writing is not reporting
facts, but how one feels about
what happened or is happening.
Eventually, if you choose to do so,
you may edit, or revise, or change
form. Letters to family members
(living or deceased) are particularly
powerful tools.
Ernest Hemingway said that,
“There is nothing to writing. All
you do is sit down at a typewriter
and bleed.” Today, word processing
replaces typewriting, but paper and
pens will do (I actually prefer pencils
– the ones with tiny erasers at
the end). Try writing, then read your
own words – it will be like seeing
yourself in a mirror: look deeply
and see what you find...
20 NORTH SHORE TOWERS COURIER ¢ August 2019