EW04: The Science Behind Expressive Writing
Welcome to Expressive Writing: Session EW04 .
Here you can download the session PDF below by clicking on the button.
For easy access to handouts or worksheets referred to in the session, please use the links below.
Classical “unstructured expressive writing” instruction as a therapeutic practice was introduced by Pennebaker and colleagues in the 1980s. It goes as follows:
1. Write “your very deepest thoughts and feelings about an extremely difficult or emotional event that has affected you and your life…” (Baum & Rude, 2013, p.37).
2. Keep the flow of writing going for 20 minutes nonstop.
3. Don’t worry about spelling or grammar.
4. Write “your very deepest thoughts and feelings about an extremely difficult or emotional event that has affected you and your life…” (Baum & Rude, 2013, p.37).
5. Keep the flow of writing going for 20 minutes nonstop.
6. Don’t worry about spelling or grammar.
By the mid-1990s, a consistent literature was beginning to emerge in health, clinical, and social psychology that validated the effectiveness of expressive writing in improving health. By 1998, the first meta-analysis was published, and over the years, there have now been at least 4 to 5 additional meta-analyses on the writing phenomenon (see Baikie & Wilhelm, 2005; Frattaroli, 2006; Frisina, Borod, & Lepore, 2004; Harris, 2006; Smyth, 1998; Travagin, Margola, & Revenson, 2015). As a side note, the overall effect size of expressive writing on health across over 100 studies averages about .16 (Cohen’s d ). For a discussion of the many issues surrounding writing, see Pennebaker and Smyth (2016).
"You need focused thought as well as emotions," says Lutgendorf. "An individual needs to find meaning in a traumatic memory as well as to feel the related emotions to reap positive benefits from the writing exercise." In explaining this phenomenon, Pennebaker draws a parallel with therapy. "People who talk about things over and over in the same ways aren't getting any better," he says. "There has to be growth or change in the way they view their experiences." Evidence of a changed perspective can be found in the language people use, Pennebaker has found. For example, the more they use such cause-and-effect words as "because," "realize" and "understand," the more they appear to benefit. Pennebaker also acknowledges that some personality types likely respond better to writing than others. Tentative evidence suggests that more reticent people benefit most. A host of other individual differences--including handling of stress, ability to self-regulate and interpersonal relations--also mediate writing's effectiveness.
Research Findings
Research Instrument
Workshop participants answered the following four questions for each writing prompt. On a scale of 1 to 10, with 1 being equal to “Not at all”, 5 being equal to “Somewhat” and 10 being equal to “A great deal”.
A. To what degree did you express your deepest thoughts and feelings.
B. To what degree do you currently feel happy?
C. To what degree do you currently feel sad or upset?
D. To what degree was today’s writing valuable and meaning full to you?
Participants were also given an opportunity to briefly describe how the writing went today.
Prompt #1
The numbers: A=7 B=6.5 C=3.6 D=6.9
Descriptions: “Fun” “Very well” “It brought me back to happy days during rough times” “The writing is getting to a core which is going to be full of surprises” “Well” “It was nice” “Was smooth, but didn’t impact me as I thought it would. I was hoping to relive more” “Really good, it helped me reconnect to that blissful moment” “It was hard to think of a moment, but when I did I really enjoyed reliving it” “It made me sad because the last time I was happy was with my now ex-boyfriend” “I had conflicting dialectics about my wonderful experience” “It was nice to be able to think of a happy time” “Love looking back on happy days and remembering the days that I was happy” “I don’t like talking about positive things because I feel like I don’t experience them as much” ”Good”