Writing is a Great Way to Disengage

The first research studies in the 1980s showed that journaling about one’s deepest emotions had health benefits no one expected to find. Later studies questioned the writing process. How could expressive writing work so well? The researchers began to focus on “content” analysis. They evaluated the essays participants wrote, looking for the use of insight words, causal words and words associated with cognitive activity and found these types of words correlated with health benefits. The people who expressed more positive emotion (relative to negative emotion) enjoyed the greatest health benefits. Finding something good to write about, even when recalling negative experiences, helped people disengage from the trauma.

Here are a few writing techniques that help put distance or a new perspective on a difficult experience:

• Third-person point of view instead of “I said” change to “He said…she said.”
• Second-person point of view, “You said…”
• Humor/Satire, no one will read it, so let the jokes fly.
• Role Playing (take someone else’s part)

In future posts, I will explore more writing methods.