Expressive writing is a method of freely recording thoughts, emotions, and experiences related to difficult, stressful, or important life situations. It's not about beautiful style, linguistic accuracy, or crafting a well-thought-out text. Honesty is paramount. We can write down what we're feeling and thinking at a given moment: what we're afraid of, what angers, saddens, or overwhelms us, what meaning we give to our experiences, how our body feels, and what it's showing us about our experiences.
Putting your thoughts on paper can be a way to organize and name them. What previously swirled around in your head as vague tension, anxiety, or a rush of thoughts begins to take concrete form. This sometimes makes it easier to look at your situation from a distance and a different perspective, and to see solutions that weren't apparent in the rush of emotions.
What do you think about this?aboutwhat research?
Research on expressive writing has been conducted for many years. It suggests that describing one's own experiences can improve well-being in some people, helping them manage their emotions and cope with stress. Some studies have also observed improvements in selected health parameters and reduced frequency of medical care use.
Scientists are also interested in whether not only retelling our own story, but also re-imagining it and giving it a new meaning, can influence our behavior and well-being. This concept is based on the assumption that each of us creates a personal narrative—a story about ourselves and our lives that influences how we perceive reality. Sometimes, however, our inner voice becomes overly critical, focusing primarily on threats, or perpetuating beliefs that don't paint the whole picture.
Psychologist Timothy D. Wilson, author of Redirect: Changing the Stories We Live By, believes that while writing doesn't solve every problem, it can definitely help people cope. "Writing forces people to reinterpret what's troubling them and find new meaning in it.".
Expressive writing in cancer
Cancer carries a tremendous emotional burden. Diagnosis, treatment, uncertainty, and changes in the body, daily functioning, and relationships can all trigger anxiety, sadness, anger, and a sense of loss of control. Talking about these issues isn't always easy.
Therefore, scientists began to investigate whether expressive writing could be one of the simple methods of supporting people with cancer.
A randomized clinical trial published in the Journal of Clinical Oncology examined patients with kidney cancer. Participants repeatedly wrote about their deepest thoughts and emotions related to their disease. The results suggested that this form of writing may be associated with a reduction in some disease-related symptoms and improved physical functioning.
Other studies have focused on individuals with head and neck cancer undergoing radiotherapy. For these patients, writing may have an additional benefit – the disease and treatment sometimes make speaking, eating, and communication difficult. Therefore, expressing emotions in writing may provide an alternative way to recount one's experience. Studies have observed possible benefits, including those related to anxiety, depressive symptoms, and sleep quality.
A broader review of studies published in Supportive Care in Cancer included 34 studies involving 4,316 participants, including 31 randomized controlled trials. Most involved women with breast cancer, but other cancer types and palliative care patients were also analyzed. The authors reported beneficial changes in fatigue, some aspects of mood, and physical quality of life, among other outcomes.
At the same time, research findings are not uniform. Not everyone will experience improvement, and not all studies have observed significant effects. Further, high-quality research is needed to better determine who and in what situations expressive writing can help most.
Therefore, it is worth treating them as a simple and easily accessible form of support for coping with emotions, and not as a method of treatment or a replacement for professional psychological or psycho-oncological help.
How to do it?
You don't need a special notebook, app, or any other preparation. Just a piece of paper and something to write with.
For about 15–20 minutes, for three or four consecutive days or over several separate sessions, try writing without major pauses about an experience that is emotionally significant to you. You can describe the facts, but try to pay attention primarily to your inner experience:
What do I feel now?
What am I most afraid of?
What is the hardest thing for me?
What have I lost or what am I missing?
What gives me hope?
How did the disease change my perspective on myself and life?
What do I need?
Do I see something in this situation that I haven't seen before?
Don't edit sentences or judge what's being written. You also don't have to show your notes to anyone. This text is for your own use only.
After a few days or weeks, you can return to it and see if you see the recorded experiences in the same way. Sometimes, simply noticing that our thoughts or emotions have changed can be valuable.
If you feel very tense, anxious, or overwhelmed while writing, there's no need to force yourself to continue. In such a situation, it's worth pausing and—if difficult emotions persist—speaking with a psychologist, psycho-oncologist, or other specialist.
Sources:
Randomized Controlled Trial of Expressive Writing for Patients With Renal Cell Carcinoma Kathrin Milbury, Amy Spelman, Christopher Wood, Surena F. Matin, Nizar Tannir, Eric Jonasch, Louis Pisters, Qi Wei, Lorenzo Cohen
The Effect of Expressive Writing on the Experiences of Head and Neck Cancer Patients Undergoing Radiotherapy: A Randomized Controlled Trial, Jiayuan Li, Zhuoran Gao, Siyu Li, Xia Zhong
Systematic review and meta-analysis of the effectiveness of expressive writing disclosure on cancer and palliative care patients' health-related outcomes, Hammoda Abu-Odah, Jing Jing SU, Mian Wang, David Sheffield & Alex Molassiotis
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Author: Joanna Niewolik
