Therapeutic Benefits of Writing
Benefits of Therapeutic Writing with a Therapist
-Assessment: a trained and experienced therapist can help properly assess issues and needs and provide suggestions for referrals to other services as appropriate
-Guidance: based upon a thorough assessment, goals may be better attained with therapeutic writing focused on your needs and wants, rather than generic, one-size-fits-all instructions
-Support: most of us who don’t write all the time need a little extra cheering-on towards our goals, and counselors can provide that extra reminder and incentive to get it done
-Feedback: a therapist can offer that outside point of view, alternative points of view, and validation that we often can’t get from simply writing only for ourselves
Ready to give it a try? Click here to get started.
-Assessment: a trained and experienced therapist can help properly assess issues and needs and provide suggestions for referrals to other services as appropriate
-Guidance: based upon a thorough assessment, goals may be better attained with therapeutic writing focused on your needs and wants, rather than generic, one-size-fits-all instructions
-Support: most of us who don’t write all the time need a little extra cheering-on towards our goals, and counselors can provide that extra reminder and incentive to get it done
-Feedback: a therapist can offer that outside point of view, alternative points of view, and validation that we often can’t get from simply writing only for ourselves
Ready to give it a try? Click here to get started.
Research-Based Evidence to Support Therapeutic Writing
Since the first scratches on a cave dwelling wall, writing has permeated human life. Letters, plays, books, diaries, stories, poems, all the way to modern websites, blogs, and e-books touch on every facet of humanity. We convey our loves, our hates, our history and our hopes through writing, so it’s no wonder that research has finally begun to confirm the potential therapeutic benefits of writing.
Dr. James Pennebaker, University of Texas at Austin, initially studied writing about impactful experiences (anything that people felt was significant in their lives), and found that people did indeed come to feel better emotionally, although there were some short-term spikes in not feeling better emotionally as they were writing. The biggest benefits, however, came following that, as their physical health improved and continued to improve.
Other studies have shown that writing can improve our thinking and feeling and enhance life experience. In one study, students who were to recall information by writing a free-form essay performed best on a test, versus students who read and re-read the information, or made a map of the information. In another study, students who wrote about their anxiety prior to a test, performed better on the test than those who did not.
There are many ways to write that may be beneficial and that suit different purposes. And while some research has shown therapeutic benefit regardless of whether the writing is ever shared with anyone, there are benefits to working with a trained and experienced counselor or therapist. Wikipedia has a nice article about Writing Therapy here. If you are considering trying it out, get started here.
Dr. James Pennebaker, University of Texas at Austin, initially studied writing about impactful experiences (anything that people felt was significant in their lives), and found that people did indeed come to feel better emotionally, although there were some short-term spikes in not feeling better emotionally as they were writing. The biggest benefits, however, came following that, as their physical health improved and continued to improve.
Other studies have shown that writing can improve our thinking and feeling and enhance life experience. In one study, students who were to recall information by writing a free-form essay performed best on a test, versus students who read and re-read the information, or made a map of the information. In another study, students who wrote about their anxiety prior to a test, performed better on the test than those who did not.
There are many ways to write that may be beneficial and that suit different purposes. And while some research has shown therapeutic benefit regardless of whether the writing is ever shared with anyone, there are benefits to working with a trained and experienced counselor or therapist. Wikipedia has a nice article about Writing Therapy here. If you are considering trying it out, get started here.