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Does free writing help with anxiety?
One of my favorite methods for coping with stress, anxiety, and depression is free-writing. Expressive writing can result in a reduction in stress, anxiety, and depression; improve our sleep and performance; and bring us greater focus and clarity. These effects of writing as a tool for healing are well documented. Freewriting, a writing strategy developed by Peter Elbow in 1973, is similar to brainstorming but is written in sentence and paragraph form without stopping. Thus, it . . . increases the flow of ideas and reduces the chance that you’ll accidentally censor a good idea. Writing therapy, also known as journal therapy, is exactly what it sounds like: writing (often in a journal) for therapeutic benefits. Writing therapy is a low-cost, easily accessible, and versatile form of therapy. It can be done individually, with just a person and a pen, or guided by a mental health professional.
Does writing in a journal help anxiety?
Whether you’re dealing with stress from school, burnout from work, an illness, or anxiety, journaling can help in many ways: It can reduce your anxiety. Journaling about your feelings is linked to decreased mental distress. Many mental health experts recommend journaling because it can improve your mood and manage symptoms of depression. Studies support this and suggest journaling is good for your mental health. It may also make therapy work better. Journaling helps control your symptoms and improve your mood by: Helping you prioritize problems, fears, and concerns. Tracking any symptoms day-to-day so that you can recognize triggers and learn ways to better control them. Providing an opportunity for positive self-talk and identifying negative thoughts and … Journaling helps keep your brain in tip-top shape. Not only does it boost memory and comprehension, it also increases working memory capacity, which may reflect improved cognitive processing. Boosts Mood. While a journal cannot replace a therapist, it can be therapeutic. What a journal can do is help you to notice patterns in your behaviour and emotional responses. It’s an opportunity to reflect on your experiences, feelings, thoughts and behaviour. Journaling boosts my creativity. Writing without a censor frees me from overthinking and limiting my imagination. It helps my brain make connections it might not otherwise. Most importantly for ADHD, it allows me to capture my great ideas before I forget them two minutes later.
Does expressive writing reduce anxiety?
Expressive writing has been shown to reduce general anxiety (Alparone, Pagliaro, & Rizzo, 2015; Hines, Brown, & Myran, 2016; Smyth & Pennebaker, 2008; Van Emmerik, Kamphuis, & Emmelkamp, 2008), depression (Frattaroli, Thomas, & Lyubomirsky, 2011; Lepore, 1997) and ruminative thoughts (Gortner, Rude, & Pennebaker, 2006) … Expressive writing can result in a reduction in stress, anxiety, and depression; improve our sleep and performance; and bring us greater focus and clarity. These effects of writing as a tool for healing are well documented. It has been demonstrated, across a variety of investigations, that writing activities yield a number of intellectual, physiological, and emotional benefits to individuals. These bene- fits include improve memory function, decreased symptomatology, and greater feelings of happiness. Why is writing so potent? Because writing is a form of thinking — a particularly powerful form, since those ideas can be re-read not only by you, but by millions of others as well. Writing changes minds, minds change behavior, and behavior changes lives.
Can anxiety make it hard to write?
Writing anxiety disorder is real So, don’t let anyone tell you it’s not a real problem. It is. And accepting that reality is the first step toward learning how to cope with it and to overcome its worst effects. Don’t confuse writing anxiety with so-called “writer’s block.” Writer’s block isn’t a real thing at all. People with writing anxiety might even get physical symptoms if they try to write, or to over-edit: perspiring, trembling, shortness of breath, pacing, and so on. The causes of writing anxiety are many. Here are just a few: Inexperience with the type of writing task. Previous negative experiences with writing (e.g. someone, maybe a teacher, has given you negative feedback or said negative things about your writing) If you’re overthinking your writing, you’ve probably become too serious about it. You’re worried too much about “getting it right,” or “being a good writer.” These thoughts block creativity and can easily encourage rumination. You need to remember what it was like to have fun writing.
What causes writing anxiety?
Here are just a few: Inexperience with the type of writing task. Previous negative experiences with writing (e.g. someone, maybe a teacher, has given you negative feedback or said negative things about your writing) Negative feelings bout writing (e.g. “I’m not a good writer”; “I hate writing.”) It has been demonstrated, across a variety of investigations, that writing activities yield a number of intellectual, physiological, and emotional benefits to individuals. These bene- fits include improve memory function, decreased symptomatology, and greater feelings of happiness. This research reveals that all “good” writing has six key ingredients—ideas, organization, voice, word choice, sentence fluency, and conventions. The following is a brief description of five qualities of good writing: focus, development, unity, coherence, and correctness. Dysgraphia involves difficulty with the act of writing. Difficulties can range from issues with physically writing words to issues with organizing and expressing thoughts in written form. 3) I strongly discourage writing at an early age, because it takes away the opportunity to be laying a strong foundation of gross and fine motor skills. Definitely not before the age of 5! Keen learners can practice letters and words by writing in sand or on a blackboard, rather than at a desk with paper and pencil.