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Articles Conference Reviews |
2008GSchreyerDr. James Pennebaker Dr. Pennebaker, a social psychologist, conducted several studies on using writing to help improve health. His findings indicated that people suffering from traumatic experiences that were kept secret or not discussed had negative health effects. He wanted to find out whether writing about the traumatic experience would improve physical and emotional health. He conducted several different studies, but, in my opinion, his most intriguing one dealt with guided writing activities. He found that most people, if given the opportunity, will write about traumatic experiences. He had individuals write about a traumatic experience four times for thirty minutes over the course of two weeks. There were no “rules” to follow, except that they use the whole thirty minutes. If they ran out of things to write, he directed them to rewrite the first part. They did not receive feedback about their writing. They simply wrote in journal style for thirty minutes and deposited the writing into a box. They came back for the following sessions and were asked to continue writing on the topic. Again, they could rewrite material if they needed. However, he found this did not happen often. While Pennebaker’s research subjects felt sad in the moments following the writing, they started to deal with the emotional issues. Over time, their physical and emotional health improved after writing. A month after writing, the individuals talked more, laughed more, and obsessed less. Over time after the study, the researchers found that the people who wrote about the traumatic event had less physician visits, positive biological marks, less depression, higher self-esteem, increased marital satisfaction, and higher grades. Dr. Pennebaker explained that research found that writing for a fixed period of time is better than writing in journals, because individuals who journal are typically obsessing on the same ideas over long periods of time. This is not good for emotional or physical health. As writers, we may feel it is obvious that writing helps us. However, I found Dr. Pennebaker’s information to be unique in many ways. He found that allowing people to express an emotional event on paper over time led them to the ability to better process and cope with the information, and then move on. I found some of the results startling when I thought about how writing is often used to try to help individuals cope with difficult situations. Many times, people write things to present and share with others; however, they may not receive the feedback they desire. This, in turn, could make the individual will feel worse emotionally and physically. If, instead, people are given the opportunity to work through things on their own in writing, it can help them move beyond the traumatic or emotional event. I believe that Dr. Pennebaker’s research should cause some writing teachers to examine their use of writing in the classroom. We must be cautious when students want to share emotional events through their writing. We cannot control how others in the classroom may respond to the writer and their writing. This could make for a negative experience that may cause the writer more pain than catharsis. When writing about emotional events, we must examine what is and is not appropriate in the classroom. If students are writing about traumatic experiences, we must ensure that we are equipped with the skills needed to help them deal with these events. Finally, I was excited to find that I can utilize Dr. Pennebaker’s technique to deal with difficult situations that arise in life, both at home and at work. I like the idea of having a specific writing task that can help me work through a situation on a variety of levels over time. |