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Expressive Writing: Tip-Sheet and Resources

Expressive writing involves writing about personally stressful or traumatic experiences without concern for style or grammar. Research shows it can improve both physical and mental health by translating chaotic emotions into words, facilitating reflection, and releasing negative emotions and stress. The most healing writing is detailed, makes connections between events and feelings, and forms a narrative using both positive and negative words. Beginning an expressive writing practice involves writing freely for 15 minutes, 3-4 times per week without worrying about spelling or grammar. Sample prompts provide starting points for writing sessions.

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Damaris G
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324 views2 pages

Expressive Writing: Tip-Sheet and Resources

Expressive writing involves writing about personally stressful or traumatic experiences without concern for style or grammar. Research shows it can improve both physical and mental health by translating chaotic emotions into words, facilitating reflection, and releasing negative emotions and stress. The most healing writing is detailed, makes connections between events and feelings, and forms a narrative using both positive and negative words. Beginning an expressive writing practice involves writing freely for 15 minutes, 3-4 times per week without worrying about spelling or grammar. Sample prompts provide starting points for writing sessions.

Uploaded by

Damaris G
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Expressive Writing: Tip-sheet and Resources

By: Sharon Bray, EdD and UHN Patient Partner

That's the way writing often starts, a disaster or a catastrophe... by writing I


rescue myself under all sorts of conditions... it relieves the feeling of distress.
William Carlos Williams, MD & poet

The power of writing: Beginning with his ground-breaking research in the late 1980s,
psychologist James Pennebaker, PhD, and his colleagues conducted over three decades of
research on the health benefits of writing. Called “expressive writing,” research has shown
many health, emotional and cognitive benefits associated with this practice.

What is expressive writing? It is writing about thoughts and feelings related to a personally
stressful or traumatic life experiences. It is personal, free flowing, informal and written without
concern for style, spelling, punctuation or grammar.

What are the benefits of expressive writing? Research has demonstrated a number of
health benefits among many different groups of people, including:

• Stronger immune health


• Better sleep habits
• Improved mental and physical health
• Regulated blood pressure
• Reduction in pain caused by chronic diseases.

Expressive writing also has a number of other benefits, including:

• Translating chaotic emotions into words


• Making thoughts & events more concrete and accessible
• Facilitating reflection and "sense-making" of one’s experiences
• Making linkages between feelings and upsetting events
• Helping release negative emotions and stress that can lead to disease
• Helping reclaim your voice, often silenced by illness and chronic conditions
• and, when done together, can ease isolation & build community through shared stories.

What is the most healing kind of writing? Writing that is most healing happens when you:

• Write deeply
• Use detailed descriptions of events & feelings
• Make connections between what happened & what we feel
• Create a "balanced" narrative--(using both positive and negative words)
• Form a story from events and emotions
• Write as part of a group exercise/activity in an environment that is safe and supportive
• Treat your writing and your experience with care.

Expressive Writing: Tip-sheet and Resources


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Expressive Writing: Tip-sheet and Resources
By: Sharon Bray, EdD and UHN Patient Partner

Beginning a Healing Writing Practice


• Write 3 – 4 times a week. Set the timer for 15 minutes and write.
• Write freely, keeping the pen moving or your fingers flying.
• It doesn't matter how you begin. Don’t worry about grammar or spelling.
• Begin with anything or, if it helps, begin with a prompt to get you started.
• After you finish, read over what you’ve written. You can underline words or phrases that
stand out and use those to begin your next writing session.
• Keep your writing private.
• If you feel worse after writing, it may be good to talk to someone who can help.

Sample • When the doctor said…


writing • What I fear most is…
prompts • I remember…
• What really makes me angry is…
• I regret…
• I am grateful for…
• I have carried this sadness since…
• Use a photo of your younger self. Begin with: In this photo you
are…
• Make two columns: Before heart failure/After heart failure (or any
condition). Write lists for each column. Expand on one or more.

Selected Resources

Adams, Kathleen (1998). The Way of the Journal: A Journal Therapy Workbook for Healing.
Sidron Press.

DeSalvo, Louise A. (2000). Writing as a Way of Healing: How Telling Our Stories Transforms
Our Lives. Beacon Press.

Pennebaker, J.W. & Evans, J.F. (2014). Expressive Writing: Words that Heal. Enumclaw, WA:
Idyll Arbor.

Pennebaker, J.W. & Smyth, J.M. (2016). Opening Up by Writing it Down. NY: Guilford Press.

Reeves, Judy. (2010) A Writer’s Book of Days, A Spirited Companion and Lively Muse for the
Writing Life. CA: New World Library. **Note: book of writing prompts**

www.writingtheheart.ca, a monthly blog by Sharon Bray, EdD, featuring reflective posts & writing
suggestions on life and living with heart failure.

Expressive Writing: Tip-sheet and Resources


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