Self-expression is liberating. Whether you experience it while walking, art, music, or words, you will feel it. You can use it to challenge stress and face stressful situations. Self-expression also promotes acceptance of one’s self, and it empowers both the body and the mind. The following are some of the types and benefits of writing, crafted by professional bachelor thesis writers:
Unstructured Expressive Writing
It got introduced by Pennebaker and his colleagues in the 1980s as a therapeutic practice and goes:
- Jot down your deepest feelings and also thoughts about a situation that you found extremely difficult to handle and one that has scarred your life.
- Keep writing for 20 minutes without stopping a bit.
- Forget about spelling and grammar. You should also forget the flow of ideas. Write whatever come to mind about a particular topic or scenario.
Unstructured expressive writing is meant to bring out issues that may be bothering your head. It helps you to tap into your thoughts without any particular aim. It feels like downloading whatever crosses your mind on to the paper.
The materials written can be preserved or disposed. They help you to understand thought patterns especially where raw emotions are involved. It works best when you have a nagging issue you need to deal with. Once you write it down, it leaves your head. As you burn the paper, it disappears from your conscious mind.
Gratitude Writing
Keeping a gratitude journal has a positive effect on the status of the health of the mind. Optimism can get derived from this, and a satisfying mood can get created altogether. You can have a daily or weekly gratitude journal that focuses on the things you see as grateful. There are also gratitude letters, and you can achieve this in the following ways:
- Select a person who you want to address your letter. You are not required to send the written piece, but you can when you feel like it.
- Have a reflection and jot what you find gratitude for this individual.
- Have this exercise on repeat for a given period and can have a different selection of people to be addressed.
Gratitude writing materials can be shared with the subject of the writing. They may also be kept for future reference like when you are writing a memoir.
Gratitude writing helps you to become more positive about life and people. When targeting people, you begin to see them in a better light because they are making your life better. Positivity makes you a healthier person socially, physically, and emotionally.
Expressive Writing for Depression
When combined, emotional acceptance and expressive writing can have crucial impacts on releasing depression symptoms. On the other hand, expressive writing does not offer much help to those having severe symptoms of depression. If you have mild symptoms, consider doing the following:
- Take an observer’s stance while writing. There may be difficult emotions that come out. Witness them without judging.
- Write a paragraph that levels out the responses of distress while faced with difficulties. It will immensely help you send away self-blame.
It helps you to see people and situations more clearly. You might discover that you are blaming the wrong people or have taken an inappropriate approach to solving the problem. It is especially important in helping the victims to identifying the sources and courses of depression. With a clear picture of the situation, it is easier to find a solution.
Expressive writing for PTSD
Researchers have found that expressive writing for PTSD reduces its severity. If faced with the conditions, consider the following:
- Tend to write at least 30 minutes every day and commit to this act for at least five days.
- The reflection of your writing should be from the present heading back. Avoid imagining the trauma as if it is happening now. Write in a safe mode.
- Give detailing facts about the events as they appear chronologically in your mind. Remember to include all your thoughts and emotions in your writing.
- In the process of writing, stay a nonjudgmental observer.
- Revisit the event you are referring to in your other writings instead of hopping on to the next one.
If you get stuck while jotting, relax, sit back, and give yourself these questions to answer. They are rooted in somatic psychotherapy learnings that constitute of EMDR or Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing Somatic Experiencing. The above works well with trauma and traumatic conditions that affect the way the brain operates. Here are the questions:
- What happened after?
- Was there anybody there to help you? If so, who were they?
- Were you safe in the event or after it? If so, when did you realize you were safe?
How do you use writing to enhance your mental health?
Writing requires a genuine person. The information you put on to the paper must be accurate and represent the real problem. If you fail to capture the situation as it is, you end up with a misleading and deceitful conclusion. It affects your ability to find a lasting solution for your problem.
Review your writing to establish repetitions and patterns that could be affecting your life. From your documents, you will identify triggers that cause depression or negative reactions. It raises your consciousness towards these triggers so that you can avoid them or manage them better. It explains the need to capture situations accurately so that the picture is clear when you are making your decision.
What you do with the written material will determine the value of writing to your mental health. Do you dwell on the negatives you have established or will change course and turn positive? Does the revelation help you to be more cautious with people and situations or will you take revenge?
Writing should elicit positive energy in you. It gives you clarity about your life, helping you to take more positive steps towards improving it. When writing for therapy purposes, the materials will signify removal and elimination of negative aspects from your life. It allows you to breathe a sigh of relief and reduce mental pressure.
