One of the many things that I do is run writing for wellbeing groups. Studies show that writing helps with stress reduction, basic cognitive and linguistic processes, strengthens immune cells called T-lymphocytes, is associated with drops in depression, promotes our personal growth and improves memory, along with many other things.
Dr. James W. Pennebaker, currently chair of the psychology department at the University of Texas, Austin, has conducted much of the research on the health benefits of expressive writing. In one early study, in the autumn of 1983, Dr. Pennebaker asked 46 healthy college students to write about either personally traumatic life events or trivial topics for 15 minutes on four consecutive days. For six months following the experiment, students who wrote about traumatic events visited the campus health centre less often, and used a pain reliever less frequently, than those who wrote about inconsequential matters.
The power of writing for wellbeing is that anyone can do it. You just need a pen and paper (which I recommend, rather than typing, as the temptation is to edit as you go, which isn’t in the spirit of things, and there’s also something pleasantly visceral about pen on the page that is often missing in our technology heavy world) and you can get started. It doesn’t matter whether you’re a wordsmith, or an author, or just write a shopping list. You can write.
There are a simple five steps to WRITE:
- W – What do you want to write about? Name it.
- R – Review or reflect on it – close your eyes, take deep breaths, and focus.
- I – Investigate your thoughts and feelings. Just start writing and keep writing.
- T – Time yourself – write for 5 to 15 minutes straight.
- E – Exit smart by re-reading what you’ve written and reflecting on it with one or two sentences
The latter one really matters. By reflecting on what you have written, you can learn from and build upon it. But don’t feel you have to have come up with anything profound. Just the process is enough.
The feedback from groups, which I have run in universities, prisons, NHS settings, community groups and privately, has always been excellent. People learn new things about themselves, reflect on their personality, relax and calm themselves, and feel inspired.
If you want to know more about my writing for wellbeing workshops, get in touch fbaker@live.co.uk