Reddit reviews Opening Up by Writing It Down, Third Edition: How Expressive Writing Improves Health and Eases Emotional Pain
We found 3 Reddit comments about Opening Up by Writing It Down, Third Edition: How Expressive Writing Improves Health and Eases Emotional Pain. Here are the top ones, ranked by their Reddit score.
I am responding to this because writing is part of my healing toolbox, and something I've found immensely helpful.
First, there is a difference between writing and sharing your writing. The first can be healing, if (as you seem to imply) is a medium that feels safe. The second could be very triggering, and even retraumatizing if done with the wrong people.
I have used writing a lot in my therapy work for the past year or so. My first trauma history was given to a T as a written document. What I could not say, I could write.
I now have permission to email my current T, a privilege I try not to abuse. In sessions I share journals, or dream journals or printouts with her, these written words are often the starting point of our sessions.
But even if writing is healing for you, there are some precautions you need to take. Here are my favorite ones:
Lastly, here's a book I found very helpful:
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01GK5817W/
Good luck!
My therapist recommended that I start writing for 15 minutes a day about whatever is in my head. There's a book about the process if you're interested, but I haven't read it yet. I've been doing it for two weeks and I've had a marked reduction in both suicidal ideation and psychotic thoughts/hallucinations. I've found writing by hand is better than typing, and it works best when I write with no specific purpose - just without interruptions for 15 minutes. I've started shredding them after I finish so I don't have to worry about someone finding them. I don't know if it would work for you, but I would recommend giving it a shot.
For me it wasn't. The format was too annoying to bother with on a website I couldn't see myself ever wanting to return to.
I bought and read the book he based the concept on and have been journaling using some of its ideas ever since. That's been extremely useful.
Reading the research and data in the book was a huge motivator for me too.