I always suspected that I wrote to keep myself sane and whole. Poems grew out of conflicting feelings, short stories about strange or traumatic events, and novels grew more slowly out of deeper things, what The Lovely Bones author Alice Sebold calls “the subconscious stew.” Writing has always been not just the artistic arrangement of words, but something vital to my psychophysiology. It was only when I discovered that there was substantial research to underscore these insights that I realized that you really can write your way out of any mood, be it depression or illness, and back to health. What adds to the writing buzz is that we now know that lab tests prove everything, thanks to the work of James W. Pennebaker.
Writing as a Healing Pioneer James W. Pennebaker PhD. (Univ of Austin, Texas) is a pioneer in linking the effects of writing about traumatic events with improved immune system function. He has been saying this for two decades, hoping the message has caught on. Writing down your trauma gives you insight into your mental health. Like many great innovations, it was born out of a personal depression. He started writing about it and later noted the beneficial effects. Pennebaker was a “reserved, even inhibited individual” and “too proud to admit that he had personal problems.” This may sound familiar to many of us. He does it for me, making writing increasingly crucial to my personal development.
writing experiments It started out quite simply. He tested the effects of writing about trauma, using a control group that wrote only about trivial things. They all wrote daily for four days. Those who wrote about trauma fell into three groups:
- Group 1 just wrote about emotions.
- Group 2 wrote only the facts and
- Group 3 wrote about emotions and facts.
The health of all participants was then assessed. They were reviewed again four months later. The group that wrote entirely about their innermost problems, which they had never told anyone, wrote about their worst and most tragic experiences: loss, rape, illness, depression, suicide attempts, abuse, or grievance. They reported that they began to experience a greater sense of control over their lives and, surprisingly, made fewer doctor visits compared to the other groups. It showed that writing down facts and emotions meant a 50% drop in clinic visits. The group that wrote only about the facts of a trauma, or about superficial topics, averaged a smaller drop in doctor visits.
Pennebaker said that he would never forget the initial excitement of discovering that writing affected physical health. Writing was the missing link to restore balance. That it is such a vital tool should come as no surprise, as the act of writing with a pen engages both hemispheres of the brain simultaneously, making it a ‘holistic’ activity.
Psycho-Immunology What Pennebaker discovered when he tested his theory under scientific conditions was a breakthrough, but then it got even more interesting when he enlisted the help of Janice Kiecolt-Glaser, a clinical psychologist, and Ron Glaser, an immunologist at The Ohio State University. Today we know that events such as divorce, exams and loneliness negatively affect the immune system in large part due to the Glasers. They have also shown that relaxation therapy can improve immune system function among the elderly.
Pennebaker and the Glasers conducted another experiment with writing in Dallas. This had even more exciting results. They collected blood lymphocyte samples and measured the immune function of the writing participants. A link was soon established between writing and improved immune function.
The importance of stories What is interesting is that Pennebaker’s tests also showed that people who can build a narrative out of their feelings do much better than people who can’t. This is in line with other research on how stories help us connect the dots in life. The will to create narrative is a basic cognitive building block that makes sense of the universe. Being able to live and tell history has been humanity’s method of making sense of seemingly meaningless events. We are then able to come to terms with any crisis that happens to us, and let it go.
Make lasting changes through writing Most people recognize that the purging of emotion, known over the centuries as catharsis, may have some ultimate purpose. The original Greek word combines the meanings of purification and clarification. Catharsis has been used in psychotherapy as an antidote to inhibition or repression, particularly by Sigmund Freud. It has even been taken to the extreme in some therapies. However, the inhibition, when tested by scientists, apparently reduces the conductivity of the skin, another reason to relax and write it all down.
The writing results are subtle, but also dramatic. It’s also important not to force any disclosure where people aren’t ready to absorb the lesson, but to respect where you are in your life. On paper you can feel free to say things you would never say to anyone else. It allows you to let go in a way that is not possible with other methods. Some like to talk about their problems, but for me writing them down is a way to unravel and feel comfortable with often complex, contradictory and conflicting emotions.
Pennebaker’s experiments provide compelling evidence for the link between the act of writing, which is cathartic, and improved health. Having this added measurable evidence is an advantage to anyone contemplating this mode of healing that is not just imagined or coincidental. People who wrote about their deepest thoughts and feelings around the crisis events stated that they felt they ‘understood themselves better’. Gaining this understanding of psychological problems allows us to adapt and change with greater flexibility.
Art versus Health While I still maintain that writing for an artistic purpose is the ultimate transformation of the raw material of your life, writing your crisis as a healing tool is a completely effective way to beat the odds. Pennebaker stops short of recommending journaling. For regular writers and chroniclers, this may not be far enough. It depends on why you are writing: for health and personal development, or for deeper personal and artistic satisfaction. I think there are ways to combine the two.
A pen better than a pill Writing is one of many trance states; sitting still for more than an hour to write is a form of meditation. The slow mental brain wave processing required to write can help access the inaccessible. The tool of writing should not be underestimated along with other effective tools for healing and change, such as hypnosis, neuro-linguistic programming, and the emotional freedom technique. It’s freely available to everyone who can hold a pen and paper, and it costs far less than the pills doctors often prescribe for our ailments.
Writing helps us adapt to crises and develop a more accommodating outlook on life. Combined with knowledge of hypnosis, NLP and EFT, the ability to break free of negative and limiting emotions is almost limitless. Together, they add up to a powerful combination of techniques for coming to terms with major difficulties and having a solution-oriented frame of mind.
References Pennebaker, W, J. (1990). Opening: The Healing Power of Expressing Emotions New York: Guilford Press.
Pennebaker, WJ (2004) Writing to Heal: A Guided Journal for Recovering from Trauma and Emotional Upheaval. new herald
http://www.utexas.edu/features/archive/2005/writing.html