Write your blues away
Psychologists suggest that writing about life experiences can have cathartic effects and promote well-being.
Each day, your anxiety ratchets up a few notches as you await
your exam results. Being one of the few who were not recruited during campus
placements, your morale is at an all-time-low. Over the past few weeks, you have
been having frequent skirmishes with your parents who are equally worried about
your future. You try and keep your cool, but, sometimes, life can be
overwhelming, and stress can take a toll on your physical and mental
well-being.
But what can you do when circumstances are beyond your control?
Talking with your parents and peers only seems to stress you out further. You
do not want to present a sour face to your friends who are doing well, and your
parents are too agitated themselves to counsel you. So, how do you deal with
the gnawing tension that is simmering within you? The answer is so simple that
it almost seems nonsensical — write about your problems. Yes, you read it
right. Research by psychologists suggests that writing about life experiences
can have cathartic effects and can promote well-being. Sounds far-fetched? Read
on.
Words can heal
Psychologist James Pennebaker has been investigating the
therapeutic power of writing for over two decades. In a 1997 article in Psychological
Science, where he provides an overall review of various studies, he claims
that individuals who pen down their thoughts about emotional experiences, show
“significant physical and mental health improvements.” Most studies follow a
basic paradigm where individuals are asked to write about a given topic for 15
to 30 minutes for three to five consecutive days. Those who write about
emotional events require fewer visits to the doctor than they did prior to the
writing exercise; this effect was found to last for up to six months to a year
in different studies. By contrast, a control group that writes about
superficial topics does not show similar gains in health. Likewise, writing
about upsetting events, while initially distressing, promotes well-being in the
long term. Interestingly, students who were in the emotional writing group got
better grades in the months right after the study.
The body responds
In another overview of expressive writing studies, published in
2005 in Advances in Psychiatric Treatment, authors Karen Baike and Kay
Wilhelm list specific health benefits like better lung and liver function,
lower blood pressure and enhanced immune functioning. Other benefits involve
less absenteeism from work, enhanced performance in sports and better working
memory, which refers to the amount of information a person can hold in his or
her mind so that it can be manipulated if required.
In order for expressive writing to have positive outcomes, you
must ensure that what you write remains confidential as you do not want to be
judged by it. Further, do not worry about the technical aspects of writing like
spelling, grammar and punctuation. What is important is that you process your
deepest feelings and thoughts about emotional issues that have impacted you.
Impact
While all of the above studies used a similar writing paradigm of
asking subjects to record their heartfelt and intense responses, there is
another form of journalling that is also associated with beneficial outcomes.
In a paper published in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology
in 2003, Robert Emmons and Michael McCullough found that people who maintained
a weekly gratitude journal, where they listed five things, either great or
small, that they were thankful for, were more optimistic about their life.
Further, when participants did this exercise daily, they were more likely to
report that they helped another person. In another study, published in the Journal
of Writing Research in 2009, Steven Toepfer and Kathleen Walker examined
the impact of writing three letters of gratitude over an eight-week period.
Participants, who were all college students, were asked to write letters to
people who they felt grateful to in a significant way. The researchers found
that students who engaged in this exercise experienced greater subjective
well-being.
Keep a diary
Now that the evidence has been presented for you, perhaps it is
time to make those diary entries and write more ‘thank you’ letters. For the
next few weeks, try maintaining a journal where you jot down what you are grateful
for. It could be anything from the lofty to the mundane. Or, surprise a family
member or close friend with a letter where you voice your heartfelt
appreciation. If you feel your well-being improves as a result, it won’t take
much to keep up these exercises. However, if you feel that your miseries and
misgivings are causing mental mayhem and preventing you from acting in positive
ways, don’t hesitate to seek professional help.
(Accessed on 29.9.14)
