Expressive writing: 15 minutes a day for what we do not say aloud

Many people carry experiences they have never told anyone: a loss, a conflict, an old shame. In the 1980s the American psychologist James Pennebaker wondered whether the very act of keeping them hidden might affect health, and whether writing about them might help.

The first experiment

In 1986 Pennebaker and Sandra Beall asked students to write for 15 minutes, four days in a row. Some wrote about ordinary topics, such as their room. Others wrote about the most difficult or traumatic experience of their life, some only about the facts, some only about the feelings, and some about both.

Immediately after writing, those who wrote about the feelings and the facts of the difficult experience felt worse: sadder, more upset. But in the months that followed, they visited the university health centre less often than the other groups.

What later studies found

Hundreds of studies followed this experiment. In 2006 the psychologist Joanne Frattaroli combined the results of 146 of them. She found a positive but small effect on psychological and physical health, and on some other outcomes. The effect was clearer when people wrote in private, at least three times, and about experiences they had not told anyone before.

So expressive writing is no miracle. But for an exercise that costs only a little paper and an hour a week, a small and consistent effect is worth having.

Writing gives shape to what otherwise circles endlessly in the mind. And what has a shape can be closed.

Why it might work

Pennebaker noticed that the people who benefited most were those who, from the first day to the last, moved from describing feelings towards making sense of them: they used more and more words such as "because", "realise", "reason". Perhaps writing turns a disordered experience into a story, and an understood story weighs less on the mind.

How to try it

1. Choose four days in a row and a quiet place.
2. Write for 15–20 minutes without stopping, about your deepest thoughts and feelings on an experience that has affected you.
3. Do not worry about spelling, style or order. No one will read it.
4. Afterwards, you can keep the paper or destroy it. That is up to you.

A caution

It is normal to feel a little worse right after writing. But if writing brings you severe distress or memories that overwhelm you, stop. For serious trauma, this exercise does not replace the help of a psychologist or psychotherapist, and it is better done with their support.