Hands in the shape of a heart as a metaphor for the power of expressive writing and journaling for reducing mental stress habits and boosting self-love.

My ugly-crying & the simple, proven tactic to boost your immunity

I was ugly crying. I was also stabbing and gouging the pages of my journal.

More than tears & paper-mutilation

I was indeed journalling, but this was no ordinary ‘journaling’ that I did for 20 minutes each morning. I mean, I wrote stuff too – I wasn’t just mutilating paper. But the writing was not regular writing – it  was ‘expressive writing.’

It was one of several tools I used to survive my PhD.  And not only did I survive, I was awarded $4,000 by my university for submitting a timely quality thesis. More importantly, it’s a thesis that I’m bludy proud of. Thank you.

Bizarre – yes! But …

This intense journalling may sound bizarre, but it’s  the stress-reducing, immunity-boosting technique I ‘prescribe’ most frequently to humans – including myself.

It’s simplicity itself and is called ‘emotional disclosure’ or ‘expressive writing.’ It’s a  technique that involves writing about painful life events.

I appreciate expressive writing may not sound like fun. But it’s a simple, brief, psychology tactic that delivers powerful clinically-proven results. I’ll give the specific instructions after I explain the evidence supporting its effectiveness.

Emotional roller coasters

The subjective, or self-reported, benefits of expressive writing have long been known. The process tends to be a bit of an emotional roller coaster that ends well— not unlike an effective counseling session. While people typically report feeling upset during and immediately after writing about painful events (understandably) the upset quickly subsides, leaving them feeling better than before they started writing.

But we no longer need to rely on subjective self-report alone to assess the benefits of expressive writing. We now also have objective physiological data – physiological measures of immunity from revolting research.

Effects on immunity?

There’s a growing body of research exploring the impact of expressive writing on immunity. In one such study, healthy older adults were randomly allocated to write about either upsetting life events (expressive writing) or non-upsetting daily activities (non-expressive).  (You can read the actual journal article if you are interested.) An example of NON-expressive-writing being, “I woke at 6.30am and had porridge for breakfast.” Exciting stuff.

Assessing immune function via wound healing

While the study did include subjective self-report measures, it also included objective measures of immune function. After the participants had done the writing task, a punch biopsy—a plug of skin—was taken from their upper arms to assess immune function via wound healing rates. I saw the close-up photos of the punch biopsies. Gross.

Dramatic differences in healing rates

Grossness aside, 11 days after the punch biopsy there were dramatic differences in healing between the two groups.

In the expressive-writing group, 76 % of people’s arm wounds were fully healed. In contrast, in the non-expressive ‘daily activities’ writing group, only 42 % of people’s wounds were fully healed. That is a HUGE effect size!

(Incidentally, aside from the type of writing [expressive or non-expressive] there was one other thing that predicted faster wound healing – and that was more sleep in the week before the punch biopsy.)

Only 60 minutes for boosted immunity!

The differences in healing rates between the two groups are impressive, but there was something else about this simple ‘therapeutic’ intervention that blew me away. And that was, to achieve the superior healing effects that they did, the expressive-writing participants only wrote for 20 minutes on three consecutive days. That’s only 60 minutes!

How does it work?

The jury’s still debating exactly how writing about distressing events boosts mental and physical health.

It’s plausible that the physical act of writing is helpful. Rumination—where thoughts go around and around in your head without resolution—is a characteristic of stress and anxiety. But while we may mentally ruminate for hours, it feels silly ruminating on paper (when I was eight years old, the school principal ordered me to write 100 lines of “I must not run in the corridor”—and I did feel silly, writing my lines in a toilet cubicle so no one would see me).

Additionally, writing thoughts down seems to automatically shunt us from endless repetition of stressful thoughts into problem-solving mode.

Releasing immunity-suppressing stress?

As chronic stress is known to suppress the immune system, it’s also likely expressive writing boosts immunity via releasing and processing stress. It’s also possible that, compared with ‘talk therapy,’ expressive writing has a greater therapeutic impact because it involves more of the brain, specifically the motor-control parts that are manipulating the pen, pencil, or keyboard.

Stigma around therapy

And, of course, many people, for reasons ranging from stigma to lack of cash to lack of access to quality therapists, won’t or can’t go to an actual therapist.

Regardless of how expressive writing works to boost immunity —it works. I still do it regularly and you may wish to also. The evidence is compelling for its ability to substantially boost mental and physical health—and it’s free.

Want instructions?

If you are interested in giving it a go, here are the standard instructions from the clinical trials:

“Write about your deepest thoughts and feelings about a traumatic, upsetting life experience. If you haven’t had a traumatic experience, then write about a significant life-changing event. Ideally write about something you haven’t discussed in great detail with anybody else.”

FAQ: How long do I write for?

This is a common question. As for the ideal amount of time and frequency to write, the jury’s still out on that also. Most studies involved two or three 20-minute writing sessions.

I suggest do whatever you feel like. While I did 20 minutes of expressive writing daily over several months to help me finish my PhD – in other words I made it a habit – now I just do it whenever I feel the need. So don’t worry about how often you should write or how long you should write for. I’m confident even a few minutes of expressive writing helps at least a little, and maybe helps a lot.

Incidentally, in the study I describe in detail above, the expressive writing was done before the punch biopsy wound was administered. However, there’s even more recent research showing that expressive writing done soon after the injury/surgery is still effective.

But it feels like another chore!!

I’ve found that while many people like the idea of expressive writing, some find it off-putting. It can feel like having yet another thing on their ‘Things To Do’ list. In a busy life, expressive writing, regardless of benefits, may feel like another chore.

Easy solution for the time-poor …

I have an easy solution. Just try setting a timer for a small amount of time – a small non-threatening amount that feels ‘do-able.’ Maybe 10 minutes, even 5, and see how you go.  

I had one client like this. She had awful family abuse in her past, had never seen a therapist before, and – as she was a workaholic – also felt time-poor.  But she agreed to set a timer and try expressive-writing for 10 minutes. 

Emo-tears are awesome

She later told me she’d ended up writing for hours – into the small of the night – crying her eyes out (which is great – emotional tears contain the stress hormone cortisol in a way that onion-tears don’t). Afterwards she felt drained – but in a good way. Those painful emotions had been festering inside her for a long time. 

Do I need to keep my expressive writing? 

Sometimes people wonder if they should keep their expressive writing. And the answer is: No you don’t.

Some people worry about their family finding and reading their expressive writing. However, as the research suggests there is no benefit to re-reading your expressive writing, you might as well get rid of it. 

A colleague of mine – and clinical health psychologist –  Teresa Nagel – ran a study to assess if there were any benefits to re-reading  expressive-writing. One group in her study re-read their expressive-writing from the day before, prior to continuing to write that day. In contrast, the second group didn’t re-read their previous day’s expressive writing. 

Does re-reading expressive writing help?

Teresa was looking to see whether re-reading the content made any difference to emotional processing of the event. However,  no differences were found between the two groups – suggesting its fine to throw away your expressive writing efforts. If typing on a computer, as Theresa’s participants were, you could simply delete it (just don’t be typing any state secrets anywhere that is possibly recoverable!!) Or, if you are writing on paper, as I tend to do, you can burn it – if it is safe to do so.

In fact I know several therapists who advise burning such writing. However, if burning is not a safe option, it’s fine to just dispose of it any old way.

Expressive writing is a wonder-tool. Not only is it practically free, it has multiple benefits (and no known adverse effects).  As well as boosting immunity (not the worst thing in the time of Covid!) and being an excellent PhD survival tool, its  provided me with some life-altering epiphanies – which you can read about in my most embarrassing blog post to date: I wanted a trophy boyfriend

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SUE’, PART-TIME UNIVERSITY STUDENT, BUSINESS OWNER, WIFE, MOTHER, TAURANGA
“A+! I’m pretty chuffed with that!!!!! I am very proud of getting more life balance along with study and getting an amazing result! Thank you Rebecca, understanding what was behind my procrastination and self-sabotaging behaviors was like turning the light on.

I am now able to move forward with confidence (and less fear) knowing that I have an amazing toolkit of learnings and techniques to help keep me on track. You’re a star!”

TERESA AHERNE, AUCKLAND, NZ
“I’ve tried everything over the years to stop smoking, and then, a month ago, Rebecca fixed my brain (well, the part that wants to smoke) in 10 minutes. I haven’t smoked since.”

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KIRSTEN WONCH, FOUNDER – THE WORKSHOP, PONSONBY, AUCKLAND
We hosted Rebecca to present a workshop on beating procrastination through habit change & mastery. It’s the best feedback I’ve had from our residents after any of our ‘lunch & learns.’ Some of them implemented Rebecca’s psychology strategies the same day and commented it was “life changing.” The response was so impressive we’re having her back for a 6-part series!

SARAH LINTON, WORKSHOP ATTENDEE, AUCKLAND, HEALTH COACH, TIDES OF CHANGE
“Rebecca is a font of knowledge! A mind expanding and illuminating workshop that has provided new layers and insights to the fundamentals of my practice. Rebecca’s passion is inspiring, her stories are ‘goose-bump’ material that validate the theory and bring light and life to key psychology areas, such as the concept of positive and negative rewards and punishments. 

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FAQ: What do I get when I subscribe? Not only will you get weekly-ish newsletters with articles on the tips and research of changing mental and physical habits and boosting health – but you’ll get a free pdf download – this is a transcript of the video How to get the mind-focusing effects of Ritalin – without taking the drug: The top psychology tactic for beating procrastination (the key tactic, which – in case you’ve forgotten – got me from university dropout to PhD)

BUT the pdf download has a difference from the video – and that is the pdf download contains instructions for the dial-back method – this simple method tells you the exact amount of time to set your sabertooth kitten, I mean ‘timer,’ to trigger optimal adrenaline for minimal procrastination and optimum motivation and focus. Again, you can subscribe here.

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