We asked three trained therapists to break down what makes writing therapy so powerful ✍️
“Writing therapy is more targeted, exploring elements of our lives that have had greater effects on us,” says Plummer. Think less venting about a confrontation with your boss, and more doing introspective work around a major traumatic incident. “There are different intentions that go into the work,” she explains.
It's important for writing therapy to be done with the support of a therapist . “We want to make sure that a person doesn’t spiral,” says Plummer. “When you open an emotional wound, someone needs to be there as a healer.” She likens the process to surgery: You open the wound, clean it out with the help of a trained professional, and then close it back up again. “That’s why writing therapy is different from journaling—we can’t let you go home with this open wound,” she says.
Put another way, writing helps your brain move an experience from raw feeling into rational thought. “When we experience something, we experience it in the back part of our brain through the sensory limbic system,” says Haigh. “Then we move it forward to the amygdala, which is where a lot of our emotions are.” Traumatic experiences linger here, generating strong emotional responses when triggered.
Writing about an emotional experience or stressful event through journal therapy can help you form a more cohesive narrative. “By writing our stories, we can start to define the meaning behind them,” Haigh says. “This is a very important and empowering part of healing, especially when we are talking about traumatic experiences.”“We all process information differently, and some process more internally than externally,” says Hendrix.
If you’re more of an internal processor—you’d prefer journaling, exercising, or meditating to work through emotions—writing therapy can be especially helpful to work through negative experiences. It’s best to talk with your therapist about the potential benefits of therapeutic writing and whether or not it might work for you.Step one: Engage a therapist.
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