Written by Day Marshall, LMHC (Senior Clinician)
Early in my career I was introduced to the therapeutic benefits of journaling and expressive writing. In that program, we set aside a 50 minute window each week to give our residential patients time to journal. These journal entries would often be a generator for discussion topics during individual counseling. Very often, the client unearthed a concern or belief during the journaling exercise that he or she was previously unable to put into words.
I often request that my current clients engage in expressive writing as a part of our regular counseling process. I describe this exercise as allowing the jumbled and vague thoughts and feelings that are sitting in their minds to be filtered through the writing-skills part of their brain in order to sort them out and let them be seen for what they are. The writer ‘gives air to’ or ‘lays out on the table’ beliefs, feelings or fears that they have previously never directly acknowledged. This action alone can be extraordinarily beneficial to relieving emotional distress.
Giving yourself a chunk of uninterrupted time to simply express your thoughts and experiences is a luxury lost to time for most of us. For many generations, keeping a journal was a normal part of life and provided documentation of one’s activities and opinions. In our modern age, journaling has often been set aside for the more flashy and mindless activities of screen-based entertainment. However, once we allow ourselves the time to intentionally express ourselves in writing, we discover its immense power to improve our emotional and even physical states. For example, numerous studies among patients with varying illnesses including depression, anxiety, high blood pressure, asthma and fibromyalgia have found that expressive writing has a direct positive impact on the patients’ symptoms.
If you don’t know where to start with expressively writing your feelings or thoughts, begin with a prompt. Use the prompt to get the ball rolling. For example, begin with the prompt, “If I had no fear whatever, I would . . . “ and then give yourself 30-50 minutes of uninterrupted writing time to dive deep into the process. Another example is “the most painful emotional experience of my life was. . . “ Try to consider how the experience made you feel in the moment, the impact it had on how you see yourself or others, and any lingering impacts it has had on your beliefs or behaviors. Journaling specifically about issues that cause fear, stress and anger can be very therapeutic. If you receive a diagnosis that is fearful, writing about that uncertainty can relieve some of the emotional weight of it. If you have a strained relationship, writing a mock letter to the person with whom you struggle can provide an outlet to express all of the emotions and words you have inside that may not be helpful to express directly to the person.
Expressive writing can be kept in a journal, on a private computer document, or can be ‘writing one-offs’ that are deleted or thrown away immediately after the words are put on paper or screen. There is an additional layer of potential therapeutic benefit to journaling that I will save for another post. For now, be encouraged to start! Begin with something. It doesn’t have to be extensive or profound. vEven a commitment to writing 2-4 times a week at 5-10 minute intervals in order to simply begin expressing your emotions and thoughts is helpful. Give it a try. Perhaps you’ll discover the value of it for yourself.