![]() You may also write about how the event relates to your future and present selves-who you’d like to be and who you are now. You can tie what you write to your relationships with others: parents, friends, partners, or relatives. In your writing, you should focus on exploring your deepest thoughts and emotions. Option One: For the next four days, write about a traumatic experience. The second is more relaxed, what we typically think of as journaling. It’s also the technique that Pennebaker used in his initial experiments. So, how do you practice expressive writing? It provides a safe, nonjudgmental environment where writing is the only priority.Īs James Pennebaker puts it, “Writing about an emotionally charged subject or an unresolved trauma helps you put the event into perspective and gives some structure … to those anxious feelings, which ultimately helps you get through it.” ![]() Journaling is the perfect space for this process. When we fail to examine our history, we are far more likely to hold onto negative beliefs. That is, instead of thoughts simply having a beginning and an end, we are able to understand how certain events shaped our lives.Įxpressive writing means taking an objective look at our memories in the hopes that we can gain a better perspective on how they affect us. Psychologists believe that journaling is so effective because it allows us to form a coherent narrative about our life. In one meta-analysis, the authors reported that the effects of expressive writing are equal to other forms of psychological interventions. Since then, research has shown myriad mental benefits: He found that participants writing about their thoughts reported significant physical improvements. In 1986, James Pennebaker conducted the first psychological review of expressive writing. ![]() In today’s lesson, we’ll be covering our last method: expressive writing, less formally known as journaling. Over the past few lessons, we’ve reviewed ways to improve our self-talk, either through self-distancing or affect labeling. Episode #9 of the course Improving your self-talk by Reed Rawlings
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