Preface

Dr Jim Byrne explores the therapeutic benefits of writing about emotional experiences, highlighting its positive impact on physical and mental health. Our interpretation of experiences is influenced by past narratives and stories, emphasizing the significance of narratives in human communication and sense-making. This book is intended for self-help enthusiasts, professional helpers, students of counseling psychology, and personal and professional development enthusiasts. Writing therapy is discussed as a tool for personal growth and emotional self-management, offering an effective approach to resolve psychological difficulties. Writing therapy has been shown to have transformative effects, benefiting individuals from various backgrounds.

Building a bridge into a better future

By Jim Byrne, Doctor of Counselling…

Here is a little quote by Dr James Pennebaker (1997)^[i]:

“For the past decade, an increasing number of studies have demonstrated that when individuals write about emotional experiences, significant physical and mental health improvements follow …”

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We humans make sense of our lives by referring to our previous experiences of life. And we do that non-consciously, automatically, and via habit-based responses.

We interpret what happens to us on the basis of those previous experiences; which means we see new experiences through old, distorting lenses. Some of those earlier experiences are ‘narrativized’ (or turned into stories), and some are non-narrativized (or left as gut feelings).

It is now widely accepted in psychology and social science that narratives and stories are central to how humans make sense of the world, and communicate with each other about their lives. (Though some parts of our old experiences, as indicated above, remain non-narrativized).

Professor Theodore Sarbin was one of the main American theorists who raised objections to earlier forms of empirical psychology, and argued that ‘emotions are narrative emplotments’. (Sarbin, 1989, 2001). We modify that by saying that there are ‘basic emotions’, which are innate, electro-chemical predispositions – but that those basic emotions are woven into ‘higher cognitive emotions’ through the socialization that we receive in our family of origin; our schooling; and our exposure to cultural conditioning through the mass media, peer pressure, and so on.

And much, though not all, of that socialization, is done through the medium of language or stories; or apprehended through the medium of language. (And the story that we am living right now is significantly impacted by how much sleep we got last night, and its quality; the food we ate for breakfast today; and whether or not we’ve been physically active over the recent past. And these influences are further complicated by the stressors we are experiencing in our lives today).

So socialized narratives and stories, and our personal variations, are woven into ‘who we are’, (electro-chemically, in long-term memory), and thus we can change ‘who we are being’ by changing our deep-narratives, through some effective forms of therapy. (And the effectiveness of this therapy approach will also depend upon how well we manage our lifestyle, in terms of diet, exercise, sleep, stress management, and so on).

Writing therapy is very well suited for this purpose, of working to change who we are being, based on our stored narratives; and there is lots of evidence of its effectiveness.

In her work on therapeutic writing, Julia Cameron (1992) uses several metaphors and similes to try to communicate what her readers and students can gain from using her system of therapeutic writing. The one I like the most is this:

Writing in your journal, about the trials and tribulations of your life, is like building a bridge into a better future for you!

And that is what I have set out to do in this book: To provide you with a roadmap which will support you in building a bridge into a better future for yourself.

I have used a more gradual approach than Julia Cameron. I want to help you to begin with small steps; in an easy, simple way; and to slowly build up your ‘writing muscles’.

In the process, you will develop a great capacity to manage your thinking-feeling-perceiving more reasonably; in a more self-regulated fashion. You will become more intuitive; more creative; and a more efficient and effective problem-solver. You will be less troubled by stress and strain, and more likely to succeed in achieving whatever goals you want to pursue!

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Audiences for this book

This book has been written with four broad audiences in mind:

Self-help enthusiasts, who are defined as individuals who like to learn on their own; who are comfortable with the skill of writing; and who need to work through some unfinished business, from the recent or distant past; or to plan some way ahead, to resolve practical, emotional or relationship problems; or to improve their emotional self-management.

(Your journey begins at Chapter 1, once you’ve complete this Preface).

~~~

Professional helpers (like counsellors, psychologists, psychotherapists, social workers, etc.) who want to know how to add some elements of writing therapy to their normal face-to-face work with clients.

(See Chapter 10 for detailed guidance).

~~~

Students of counselling psychology and psychotherapy, or related disciplines, who want to learn about the psychology of writing therapy; frame theory; autobiographical writing; and emotional self-management.

(Your journey begins at Chapter 3, and resumes at Chapter 1).

~~~

And personal and professional development enthusiasts, who want to improve their own self-management skills, in terms of goals and values; problem solving; and effective thinking. This group is very broad, and includes teachers, medical doctors and nurses, managers, and other professional groups.

(Your journey begins with Chapter 7, and resumes at Chapter 1).

The relative merits of writing therapy and face-to-face counselling

Writing therapy has transformed many lives! As also has face-to-face counselling and therapy. So, what are the relative merits of face-to-face counselling and psychotherapy, on the one hand, and writing therapy, on the other?

If you are struggling with emotional problems, it is normally best to see a counsellor, psychologist or psychotherapist, to get some help with your problems. One of the reasons that this is important is that, having your emotional pain witnessed, and validated, by a healing person, is hugely therapeutic.

If you choose your counsellor wisely, they will act like a kind and supportive ‘mirror’ to reflect you and your life’s experiences in an empathic, kind and supportive way. Depending on your background, this may be something that you have never experienced before; especially if you did not have ‘good enough’ parents.

A good therapist can help to re-parent you; to provide a form of ‘external emotional regulation’, or ‘affect regulation’ – which includes a soothing of your emotions; and verbal and non-verbal guidance on how to better manage your emotions in the future.

And many good therapists will help you to think-feel-perceive your life and its possibilities more realistically, more positively, and with more clarity and resilience.

However, it is obvious that many people cannot afford to resolve all of their psychological problems through the relatively expensive processes of counselling and psychotherapy. Therefore, it may often be necessary to split your therapy between face-to-face assistance, and self-directed writing therapy.

This book can help you with the second of those forms of assistance: the writing out of your trials and tribulations, so that they can be clarified, digested, re-framed, and subjected to processes of problem solving, decision making, and – if successful – filing them away in non-active ‘memory files’ which no longer trouble you. This has been shown, in scientific research, to resolve problems of depression and other emotional difficulties, and to improve immune functioning: (Levy and Monte, 1997: page 159). And this book can also help counsellors and others to introduce their clients to this most helpful process of self-management and self-therapy.

The likely concerns of counsellors and therapists regarding writing therapy

Some counsellors might be concerned that the promotion of writing therapy is a threat to their income from face-to-face work. This is highly unlikely to ever be a significant problem.

It seems to me that counsellors have to accept that not all therapeutic work is now done on a face-to-face basis; that systems of do-it-yourself therapy have always been part of the psychotherapy movement; and it is highly unlikely that all forms of psychotherapy will be done in the future on a face-to-face basis, or even on a paid professional basis. Some of it will be done on the basis of Do-It-Yourself writing therapy.

Neither should we see face-to-face counselling and writing therapy as antagonistic or mutually exclusive systems; because:

Firstly: There is no reason why most counsellors cannot use writing therapy for their own ‘routine maintenance’, or even for some of their ‘periodic counselling’ top-up needs. (See Chapter 10).

Secondly: It could be a great advantage, for the client and the counsellor, if many counsellors, from time to time, as appropriate, used writing therapy with some of their individual clients, to support and enhance their face-to-face work. This can be done in-session, or as homework assignments.

Under what circumstances should we propose using writing therapy with a counselling client?

The following list of recommendations was presented by Wright (2004):

In time-limited, focused, brief therapy – some of the detail can be dealt with outside the therapy room, on paper in private.
With people who have a self-directed tendency to write – journals, diaries, letters – and who have found the process of writing, especially autobiographical writing, (to be) cathartic and clarifying.
With people who are or perceive themselves to be powerless.
With people who are not using their first language in the face-to-face therapy – they are able to use their first language or a mixture of both first and host language.
With people who, for cultural or other reasons, are silenced by shame and feel unable to speak.
With people who are in inner turmoil and need to ‘unpack the mind’, externalise and organise their thoughts and feelings.
With people who need to disclose and exorcise a particular memory of stressful or traumatic experience.
With people at particular stages of life associated with experiencing strong feelings (e.g. adolescence or for the dying and those in hospice care).

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Most systems of counselling and psychotherapy can be modified to include some elements of writing therapy, from time to time, and with particular clients, as appropriate. (The one obvious exception to this rule is the Rogerian, non-directive, person-centred approach, which does not fit well with any kind of active intervention by the counsellor!)

This process of modification is discussed in detail in Chapter 10, in which we offer guidance to counsellors and psychotherapists regarding how and when to use writing therapy as an adjunct to their face-to-face work with their clients.

More than just writing therapy

This book is also broader than writing therapy as such.

It also includes forms of guidance which could better be described as: writing for self-management; or writing for self-coaching.

Furthermore, it is obvious that people think-feel-perceive with their existing capabilities, based on their past experiences.

Therefore, to enhance and expand your potential for improving any aspect of your life, through the vehicle of writing, we have included some additional chapters. These will help you:

(1) To understand your emotions and how to manage them;

(2) To learn about ideal goals and life values, which you can then adapt and modify to suit yourself;

(3) To understand your emotional needs; and:

(4) To learn how to re-frame difficult experiences so that they show up as being more easily accepted; and, as a consequence, you can think-feel-act more self-supportingly in relation to difficulties from your past.

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This book has the potential to transform your life!

By using the writing strategies outlined in Chapters 2 and 3, below, you could write a new life for yourself; whether you are a counsellor or a counselling client; or neither; or both!

Who has benefitted from writing therapy?

“Expressive writing is a self-reflective tool with tremendous power. By exploring emotional upheavals in our lives, we are forced to look inwards and examine who we are. This occasional self-examination can serve as a life-course correction”.

Pennebaker and Evans (2014).

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We can see how powerful writing is, as a form of therapy, by the following examples:

A former soldier, who lives out of a shopping trolley, and survives by sleeping rough on the streets of San Francisco, heals his wartime traumas by writing in a journal for a period of months. (Mulligan, 1997).

A woman who is severely depressed, and stuck at home with a two-year-old child, cures her major depression by writing about previously denied emotional pain. (Schiffman, 1972).

A college lecturer processes the stresses and strains of working in an unreasonably intense and high pressure teaching situation, for decades, by digesting her daily experiences in her journal. (See Chapter 10).

A creative author writes about his childhood trauma, and converts it into a novel, while also learning to feel more secure and more loving and more fulfilled in his life. (See Chapter 4).

The creator of Harry Potter (J.K. Rowling) was on social security, stuck at home with a young child, and suffering from severe depression, when she began to write her Harry Potter books. She attributes her overcoming depression to this writing work.

A professor of psychology at Southern Methodist University in Dallas, Texas, turns to writing to overcome the pain of depression, and discovers that it not only improves his mood and emotions, but also his immune functioning (as scientifically measured!) – and this gave rise to the Pennebaker Method of writing therapy, which is discussed in Chapter 2, below. (See page 159 of Levy and Monte, 1997).

Another young mother, at home with young children, and feeling very depressed turns to writing. She has been depressed all her life, from early childhood. She gets a red-covered book, and writes her autobiography. It comes out looking clear, and clean and indicative of a lovely life in a rural area of Epping Forrest, England. But then she goes back and re-reads it, and she realizes “there is something else underneath this”. And so she ‘digs that up’ in her writing, and that is how she discovers early childhood incest, and that tis how she heals her wounds and becomes a more whole, undepressed person. And that give rise to the whole Gillie Bolton phenomenon of books and workshops on writing therapy in an expressive/exploratory tradition, as opposed to James Pennebaker’s scientific tradition.

An American film producer descends into alcoholism and drug addiction, which might have been related to writers’ block or career frustrations; but her scotch and cocaine habits resulted in psychosis and nervous breakdowns. She came to realize that drug abuse and writing could not co-exist, and so she stopped the drugs and alcohol, and focused on her writing. This gave rise to her book, The Artist’s Way, which has helped millions of people around the world to develop the habit of writing Morning Pages, as a spiritual path and writer-recovery program, which improves creativity, and also processes emotional distress which has been piling up in undigested form. (See Cameron, 2007).

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The ‘shopping cart soldier’ referred to above, who became a successful novelist as a result of his writing therapy, was not by any means an exception. As described by Gail Noppe-Brandon (2018):

“According to a study reported in the New York Times, (war) veterans found greater healing and resiliency through a narratological approach, that is, doing guided writing about their traumatic experiences, than they did via either medication or talk therapy alone”. (Page 24).

Of course, we have to clarify that, the reason war veterans may find they gain more from writing therapy than from face-to-face work, is most likely that

(1) their traumatic experiences have created greater than normal levels of interpersonal communication difficulties; and

(2) intrusive thoughts and frightening flash-backs can happen at any time, and it is easier to grab a pad and pen and write the fear out, than it is to wait for some days to see a face-to-face counsellor! (See Jennifer H., 2008)[1].

And, as Gillie Bolton says, it is very difficult to talk about ourselves. Some of us find it easier than others; but some of the things we might need to talk about are very difficult to share with another human being. So writing therapy, being totally private, allows us to surface things we might never be able to surface with another person. (Bolton, 2018).

There have been many reports of dramatic improvements in a person’s life as a result of writing therapy.

To return to the case of J.K. Rowling, who wrote the Harry Potter books, there is a clear case for writing on a daily basis as self-therapy, as argued by Justin Bennett (2012):

“Writing and seeing her vision become reality was the turning point in her (J.K. Rowling’s) depression. Like Emma Thompson and Carrie Fisher, Rowling discovered the power of writing to beat depression. Not just writing a little bit, but building it as a daily discipline and seeing it through. Writing generates more structure in one’s life, countering the unstructured and chaotic lifestyle that mental health problems can produce. Secondly, writing also helps people get out of their head. Concentrating on the page and letting it all come out is healing, meditative and therapeutic. Writing interlinks the two brain hemispheres and encourages healthier brain function”. (Bennett, 2012).

Writing about emotional problems has been found, in scientific laboratory studies, to be at least as effective as face-to-face counselling and therapy. But very much cheaper and more easily accessed. (Pennebaker, 1990, 1997, 2002; and Pennebaker and Evan, 2014). And, as argued in Chapter 10, it is best to see writing therapy as an adjunct to face-to-face counselling; with the provisos that some people will not be able to afford much, if any, face-to-face help, and they will rely entirely, or almost entirely, on writing therapy (plus perhaps family support, and good lifestyle management of diet, exercise, self-talk, relaxation, meditation, and other healing modalities).

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The ‘humanities’ approach to writing therapy, promoted and refined by Dr Gillie Bolton, also draws evidence from the cognitive/ scientific tradition to support their own work, as shown in this quotation from Wright, 2004:

“The beneficial effects of written emotional expression are … clearly and precisely recorded and have been subjected to meta-analysis (Smyth, 1998)^[ii]. Reviews of core research on written emotional expression and health (Pennebaker, 1997; Esterling et al., 1999; Lepore and Smyth, 2002^[iii]) suggest various benefits (see Lowe, 2004 for more detail). Headlines such as ‘the pen is more powerful than the pill (Bower, 1999) have drawn popular attention to the efficacy of writing (as therapy)”. (Wright, 2004).

~~~

Final caveat: Writing therapy can never be seen as a total replacement for face-to-face therapy, because there are some things that are better done in face-to-face work. For example, in Affect Regulation and Attachment therapies, it is said that,

“What was once created in relationship (as in the family of origin), can only be adequately reformed or reshaped in relationship (such as a counselling or therapy relationship; or a particularly therapeutic love relationship)”.

Processing emotional experiences

In Pennebaker and Evans (2014) it is argued that traumatic experiences have long-term effects upon people if they keep it a secret; or they do not talk about it. Getting it out, in talk therapy, or writing about it in a therapeutic way, helps to process it. This makes sense in the context of the definition of a trauma as a ‘disrupted narrative’.

Rethinking the narrative or story of your painful experiences tends to clear them up and helps you to feel better, and indeed, to get better, physically and psychologically.

For these reasons, if you like writing, or feel you work well with writing as a medium of communication, you might like to experiment with ‘writing therapy’.

Why would you turn to writing therapy?

You could turn to writing therapy to resolve any problems you have with stress at work or at home; sadness or depression; a sense of ‘being stuck’ in your life; a need for creative thinking (or to overcome writer’s block); concerns or anxieties in general; to process and digest traumatic or distressing experiences from your past; or just to make sure you are managing your time and your life effectively, and to your own satisfaction.

In the process, you could write a new life script – or a revised narrative self – for yourself, and live from that instead of the less effective one you wrote in your head when you were a (largely non-conscious) child.

In this book, we set out to show you how you can quickly and easily process your current psychological problems, or difficult experiences, from the past or the present – and to improve your emotional intelligence and creative potential – by writing about your current and earlier difficulties.

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Writing to heal the body-brain-mind

Some pieces of writing have a healing or helping (or ‘therapeutic’) effect. A therapeutic narrative is clearly any kind of written or spoken narrative or story which promotes physical or mental healing.

Writing therapy, on the other hand, is any system of writing that is designed to promote psychological and physical wellbeing.

Writing therapy is based on the insight that, when a person writes about their negative feelings from the past, including traumatic and stressful experiences, the result is an easing of physical and emotional pain, and a strengthening of their immune system: (Woolston, 2000). The process of writing helps to change our existing ‘mental maps of reality’, also sometimes called ‘schemas’, so that we can experience life more positively and enjoyably^[iv].

Woolston (2000) described the case of John Mulligan, the homeless Vietnam veteran (mentioned above), suffering from post-traumatic stress, and sleeping on the streets of San Francisco, living out of a shopping trolley.

Mulligan attended one workshop on writing therapy, took to writing out all his ‘psychological demons’, and persisted with this daily practice for a number of years. This helped Mulligan to integrate his wartime horror story experiences in Vietnam, and he concluded that:

“Writing about stressful events can be powerfully therapeutic for mind and body”. (Page 1, Woolston, 2000).

In the process Mulligan rehabilitated himself, and went on to become a successful novelist^[v].

Writing for self-management purposes

As already indicated, the writing system in this book is much broader than writing therapy.

It also includes elements of self-coaching and self-management.

Self-management means that a person sets goals for themselves; seeks wisdom for themselves; and tries to guide their life by the best knowledge and skill that they can find and/or create, or generate. Self-coaching is an approach within self-management, in which you bring your will to bear on the pursuit of your goals. You pep-talk yourself into doing what you say you are going to do. You hold yourself to account for working intelligently towards your declared goals.

This is not an easy task, and in fact it is a lifelong journey of discovery; and trial and error; of making progress and slipping back, over and over again – on a generally ascending curve, if you work at it! Long-term progress occurs, despite occasional short-term setbacks.

The benefits of writing therapy

Writing therapy allows the writer to digest old, unprocessed memories of difficult experiences, without having to risk sharing them with another person. Writing tacks between the memories stored on the right side of the brain, and the narrative creating abilities of the left hemisphere. Thus it can help to surface old material that has been buried out of sight for a long time, but which is causing emotional or physical problems from non-conscious levels of mind. And in the process, we re-frame old decisions and interpretations, and make a new narrative which is more self-supporting and less distressing.

Writing therapy can also be helpful in processing the problems of the present moment, and creating well-thought-out plans for the future.

Perry (2012) describes a range of physical and emotional gains that people make who keep a diary in which they write about their lives. They need less medical attention; are admitted to hospital less; and spend less time there when they are. Their immune systems function better; and their liver function is improved. Also, their moods and emotional self-management improves.

According to Gail Noppe-Brandon (2018): “I feel that the work (of autobiographical writing) has been successful when clients are fluent in what they’ve lived, without shame—when they understand and can articulate how it affected them, and what they now want, and are able to speak what they want to others…”

For myself, I think the main benefit of writing therapy is the facilitation of a better, clearer, felt sense of where I come from, and where I am going; with clarity about what has happened in my life; but with the stings and soreness withdrawn from the older stories of my trials and tribulations: because they have been fully processed; understood; and re-framed.

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We are reminded by Bennett (2012) that: “(JK) Rowling wrote to combat her depression and conjured up one of the most loved fantasy landscapes of the past century. Other people who beat depression through writing are Carrie Fisher, Emma Thompson and Winston Churchill”.

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Daniels and Feltham (2004)^[vi] explored the effectiveness of journal writing as a form of personal therapy and personal development for trainee counsellors.

This is what they concluded about the effectiveness of this process:

“When asked about the benefits of journal writing itself, without comparison to other approaches to personal development, even though some trainees were sceptical to start with, all found great value in it, as demonstrated in the following quotations:

‘Seeing them (my feelings and thoughts) on paper also helps me to understand them’.

‘Looking back and seeing how I’ve grown (helps)’.

‘Reading back all of it was really beneficial, (and it) makes me realize how busy I am, etc.’

‘(It)… gives me personal satisfaction, without the need to necessarily prove myself to others by having work published or read by others for approval’.

‘It gives you the chance to have a rational debate with yourself, often enabling you to correctly put issues into focus, perhaps for the first time’.”

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And, as we saw earlier, when we looked at who has benefitted from writing therapy, the benefits that those people gained were: recovering from post-traumatic stress disorder; overcoming drug addiction, alcohol addiction, psychosis and nervous breakdown; processing childhood sexual abuse; and promoting creative thinking and improved self-management.

Daniels and Feltham (2004) continue like this:

“Few disadvantages (of writing therapy) were identified and these were concerned mainly with the lack of available feedback…”

Writing therapy can help to process feelings and sensations; images, thoughts, and body awareness; interpersonal issues; practical or technical problems; sexual difficulties or issues; socio-political issues; spiritual or existential problems or concerns; consideration of one’s potential for growth and development; self-esteem, or self-confidence; and so on. (See Daniels and Feltham, 2004).

Dr James Pennebaker (1995, 1997, and 2002) has conducted rigorous scientific studies which demonstrate that effective writing therapy dramatically improves physical health and emotional well-being.

(See also: Pennebaker and Beall, 1986; and Pennebaker and Evans, 2014).

~~~

Writing therapy is not for everybody, of course.

A sense of ease with the skill of writing is obviously a prerequisite.

It is particularly helpful for certain groups; men benefit more than women, although women do benefit from it; and it is not normally recommended for individuals who have PTSD, who may have no coping resources.

However, please note that it worked well for John Mulligan, the shopping cart soldier; and for Gillie Bolton.

It is also not normally recommended for people with major depression, who might be better advised to get help in a face-to-face context. But it worked well for Muriel Schiffman (1972), and Gillie Bolton (2018) – the depressed mothers described above.

But for most people, male and female, across a wide spectrum of degrees of emotional intelligence and emotional stability, writing therapy – and/or self-coaching through writing – and/or self-management through writing – are very powerful ways of:

– processing difficult experiences,

– solving old and new problems,

– and planning one’s journey through life, via reflective thinking, goal setting, problem solving, and creative and critical thinking, on paper.

If you can combine writing therapy with professional help from a range of counsellors, psychologists, psychotherapists, lifestyle coaches, nutritionists, personal trainers, and various medical specialists, then all the better.

But we have to recognize that many people will not be able to afford much of these kinds of expensive services, and will have to rely, in part or in whole, upon their do-it-yourself forms of therapy, including therapeutic writing.

~~~

Dr Jim Byrne, Doctor of Counselling

Hebden Bridge, April 2018

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Footnotes

[1] Jennifer H. (2008) 360 Degree Healing: Release through writing. Online blog about the family life of an American war veteran. Available: http://familyofavet.com/PTSD_ alternative_ treatments_ writing.html. Accessed: 14th April 2018.

[i] Pennebaker, J.W. (1997) Writing about emotional experiences as a therapeutic process. Psychological Science, 8(3): 162.

[ii] Smyth, J.M. (1998) Written emotional expression: effect size, outcome types, and moderating variables. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 66(1): 174-184.

[iii] Lepore, S.J. and Smyth, J.M. (eds) (2002) The Writing Cure: How Expressive Writing Promotes Health and Emotional Well-Being. Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.

[iv] Woolston, C. (2000) Writing for therapy helps ease effects of trauma. CNN.com news. Available online: http://archives.cnn.com/2000/health/03/16/health.writing.wmd/. Accessed: 12^th April 2010.

[v] Mulligan, J. (1997) Shopping Cart Soldiers. New York: Scribner/Simon & Schuster. (Paperback novel).

[vi] Daniels, J. and Feltham, C. (2004) Reflective and therapeutic writing in counsellor training. In: Bolton, G., Howlett, S., Lago, C. and Wright, J.K. (eds.) Writing Cures: an introductory handbook of writing in counselling and therapy. Hove, East Sussex: Brunner-Routledge.