The Art of Healing Through Writing

A certain kind of guided, detailed writing can help you process what you’ve been through and assist you to heal.

We all must go through the processing of emotions and pain at least once in our lives.

For better or for worse, it’s a part of the human experience.

It is what makes us who we are.

One can perhaps dream of going through life, not feeling pain, not feeling loss, not feeling as if they are missing out, never having to deal with death.

But obviously, that’s not the case.

For some, it can be a challenge verbalizing your pain, putting it out into the world.

It’s a vulnerability to speak to someone – anyone whether it’s a friend, a family member or a professional like a therapist.

Even when I knew I was paying someone to listen to me talk I felt an immense sense of guilt.

Who was I to unleash my problems on someone else?

My emotional weight wasn’t as bad as others and so why should I take up someone’s valuable time?

Therefore it became easier for me to turn to the writing process my thoughts and feelings.

But it’s not only the process of expelling them that is healing.

On the page, they are eternal.

Captured forever.

On the page, I feel like I can trap them like Pandora’s Box.

I’m not alone. Many people write journal entries, poetry, and even songs about their feelings or experiences, but few ever take it beyond that level and allow themselves to heal through writing.

Called expressive writing, this process of sharing and releasing emotions on paper is a surprisingly powerful tool for anybody who wants to heal from a recent trauma, needs a deeper emotional understanding of oneself, or is looking for a way to be safe from abuse.

In a seminal study, Dr. James Pennebaker, a pioneer in the study of the relationship between expressive writing and healing, found out that jotting down one’s emotions on paper has positive effects on trauma.

An experimental and a control group were given different tasks; the former was asked to write about their deepest feelings and thoughts related to the trauma, while the other group was told to write about something unrelated or superficial without a hint of emotion.

The experimental group showed better physical health a few months later and had fewer visits to the health centre or hospital than the control group participants.

Dr. Pennebaker concluded that confronting a traumatic experience through writing effectively improves physical health.

What happens to a person when they face a traumatic moment?

Our natural fight or flight response takes over control of the body and focuses its functions on self-preservation.

We turn our backs on our traumatic experiences, hoping to forget them for the most part.

This “flight” instinct may seem logical, but in reality, it interferes with our ability to process our emotions in a healthy manner.

In other words, it doesn’t heal.

When the mind cannot work through an emotional experience, many people find themselves in a state of depression or anxiety without understanding why.

They may even convince themselves that they’re longer affected by their experiences when in fact, the opposite is true.

Dealing with a traumatic experience has to be confronted through an outside force leading up to a catharsis.

It’s the only way to release the emotions and pain that have been building inside us.

When we don’t find a constructive way of dealing with these negative experiences, they accumulate and become toxic in our minds.

How Writing Can Help The Healing Process

Writing can be a powerful tool, if you let it, in processing unresolved traumas.

It’s an emotional experience that allows us to acknowledge the negative feelings, understand why they’re there, find closure, and ultimately heal.

A form of expressive writing is required when dealing with trauma; this means expressing our feelings through words rather than merely talking about them.

The real challenge comes through processing those feelings and finding ways to make sense of them.

It requires patience, willingness, honesty, and trust in oneself.

Writing provides emotional illumination when dealing with any emotional burden.

It’s about processing what you’ve been through and how to move forward with it.

You can’t write and not feel anything, or you’ll end up like those people who never dealt with their past.

Guided Writing as an Intervention

Therapists commonly use guided writing to help their patients release emotions with the help of a non-medical intervention.

It’s not the same as a poetic expression because there’s a clear purpose behind it: to turn trauma into insights that can heal us emotionally, physically, socially, spiritually, or even mentally.

Writing by hand is preferred due to the benefits of motor activity over keyboarding.

The physical act of putting words on paper naturally evokes the psychological process of expressing our thoughts and emotions.

Tip: Ditch your laptop. It’s more effective to write whatever you feel using pen and paper. You don’t care about your handwriting, and you’re not trying to impress anyone; you just want to write.

No Rules, Just Write

We’ve already established that the writing process is subjective; we never know how we’re going to feel or what we’re going to think while we write.

That is the fun it. You never know what is going to happen or even what you are going to feel.

There’s no right way of doing it, and there’s no deadline either (or if you give yourself one, you’ll just stress about it).

The only rule is: write whatever you want for as long as you need to.

It’s not necessarily about what we write either; it’s the process of getting through a negative experience and putting it behind us.

Some people say they can’t write, but that’s not even an excuse to turn a blind eye to expressive writing.

It’s not an autobiography or novel; the only reader is you.

There’s no judgment here, no formatting or grammar rules either.

Write whatever you want based on what you perceive as “reality.”

Tip: As you start writing your journal, remember that your feelings aren’t necessarily the truth. But there’s nothing wrong with it. You can write whatever you feel – the key is how you process it later. Some people find themselves lost in their past, which doesn’t move them forward. Whatever guilt, shame or any negative experience you may have is valid, but you can’t keep mulling over a dead end.

Reliving the Experience Through Writing

Writing as a means to heal means reliving the experience and finding a way to move on from it.

It’s like taking your opponent head-on.

The moment you begin writing, you’ll find yourself thinking about what happened.

It may be hard at first, but it usually does get easier just like any habit – exercising, eating right, or doing homework.

You might think that rewriting events over and over again will keep them fresh in your mind.

Just know that while it’s true in some sense, it’s also true that you can’t move on if you keep looking back.

Tip: The objective is never to get stuck. You may have the right to feel whatever you want to feel, but you don’t have the right to get stuck in it. So, if you’re writing about any bad experience, you can be as emotional as you want to be, but don’t close your journal on that state of mind.

The art of healing through writing is a powerful tool, and keeping a journal is the easiest way to do it.

It’s not about telling others; it’s about understanding yourself and eventually growing as an individual, this time free of the burden brought by trauma.