The residual effects of a trauma or an emotional upheaval often manifest themselves in physical and emotional ways. The symptoms can range from poor sleep, inability to focus, or lack of appetite to more serious symptoms such as depression and negative impacts on general health and existing medical conditions. When researcher, author, and professor Dr. James Pennebaker first started gathering data from college students, he made an interesting discovery—those that disclosed a traumatic experience, also typically had health problems. However, not all of them. Some of the trauma victims had no health issues traced to the event. His research found the key difference—whether or not they had shared that upsetting ordeal with anyone.
To explore the benefits of trauma disclosure, Pennebaker developed a simple research methodology—expressive writing. His study participants were people who had experienced an ordeal but had never shared it with anyone. For three or four consecutive days, they would write freely for 15 minutes about their secret. The results were very encouraging. His data showed a positive association between expressive writing and better health among study subjects. Since then, over a thousand similar studies have reached the same conclusion. Simply writing down your thoughts and feelings about trauma can translate into a reduction of stress and anxiety, improve sleep, strengthen immunity, and positively impact the treatment of chronic illness. Says Pennebaker, it’s a cascade of positive effects which he documents in his two books on the topic, Opening Up by Writing it Down: How Expressive Writing Improves Health and Eases Emotional Pain (2016) and Expressive Writing: Words That Heal (2014).
So if you find yourself dwelling on or obsessing over a stressful or traumatic event, Pennebaker asserts, “It’s probably affecting everything around your life. This is where writing is really helpful, for you to start to see its enormity on you, your life, your friends, and everything else.” He recommends waiting until the emotional rawness has faded and then taking to the page to thoroughly explore the thoughts and emotions associated with it.
Says Pennebaker, “Expressive writing is self-reflection. You are looking inward. You are trying to understand. By doing this, you start to understand it better, you don’t need to obsess about it anymore. The burden is almost lifted.”
And when you’re finished, he adds, “Throw it away or put it where no one will find it.
I don’t recommend sharing it. It’s for you and you alone.”
