Did You Know Studies Show Writing Can Help Us Heal?
I've always known that writing helps me.
I write when I'm angry. I write when I'm hurt. I write when I'm confused and don't even know what I'm feeling yet. Sometimes I don't understand what's going on inside my own head until I start putting the words down.
But something I didn't always know is that there is actually research behind this.
People have been studying something called expressive writing for decades.
And no, that doesn't mean you need to be a writer.
You don't have to write poetry. You don't have to know perfect grammar. You don't have to spell everything correctly. You don't even have to let another person read what you wrote.
Expressive writing is basically putting your deeper thoughts and feelings about stressful, emotional, or difficult experiences into words.
And researchers have been asking a pretty interesting question:
Can doing that actually help us?
This Research Goes Back Decades
One of the best-known early studies was done by psychologists James Pennebaker and Sandra Beall in 1986.
College students were asked to write for about 15 minutes on four consecutive days. Some wrote about traumatic or upsetting experiences, including their thoughts and feelings surrounding them. Others wrote about ordinary, non-emotional topics.
Researchers continued following them afterward.
That study helped kick off decades of research into what we now commonly call expressive writing.
Later reviews of this research reported that people who participated in expressive writing sometimes showed improvements in physical and emotional health, including fewer visits to health centers.
That doesn't mean writing magically fixes trauma.
But it did give researchers a reason to keep looking.
What Have We Learned Since Then?
A lot more research has been done since 1986, and the answer isn't as simple as:
"Writing makes everyone feel better."
Some studies have found benefits.
Others haven't.
A 2023 meta-analysis looked at 31 randomized controlled studies involving more than 4,000 people.
Researchers found a small but statistically significant reduction in symptoms of depression, anxiety, and stress after expressive writing. Interestingly, the benefits weren't necessarily immediate. They were more noticeable during later follow-ups.
So you might write something down today and not suddenly feel healed tomorrow.
Sometimes processing something takes time.
And I think that's important.
Healing usually isn't one big moment where everything suddenly becomes okay.
Writing May Even Affect the Body
This one surprised me.
Researchers have even looked at whether emotional writing could have an effect on physical wound healing.
In one small randomized study, 36 participants received a tiny biopsy wound. One group wrote about traumatic experiences, while another wrote about time management.
Researchers measured their wounds afterward.
The people who participated in the emotional-disclosure writing had significantly smaller wounds at days 14 and 21.
Now, that was a small study, so I'm definitely not saying you can journal your way out of an injury.
But it shows just how connected our emotional stress and physical bodies can be—and why researchers continue studying this.
But Writing Isn't a Cure
This is probably the most important part of this entire blog.
Research on expressive writing is mixed.
One larger review of randomized controlled trials found little or no overall effect on physical or psychological health. Other reviews have found small benefits.
That means I don't want anyone reading this and thinking:
"If writing doesn't make me feel better, I'm doing it wrong."
You're not.
Writing is a tool.
For some people, it may be an incredibly powerful one. For someone else, talking, creating art, exercising, therapy, music, or something completely different may help them process things better.
Writing also isn't a replacement for professional mental-health or medical care when you need it.
You Don't Have to Be a "Writer"
This is something I really want people to understand.
You don't have to be good at writing for writing to help you.
Your spelling can suck.
Your grammar can be terrible.
You can write one giant run-on sentence that nobody else on Earth could understand.
It doesn't matter.
Because sometimes the writing isn't meant for anyone else.
You can journal.
You can write poetry.
You can write a story.
You can make lists.
You can write a letter to someone and never send it.
You can write down exactly what you're angry about and rip the paper up afterward.
You can even write:
"I don't know what I'm feeling right now."
And keep going from there.
There isn't one correct way to do it.
I Didn't Need a Study to Tell Me Writing Helped Me
I've been writing for a long time.
Before I ever knew the words expressive writing, I was doing it.
Writing gave me somewhere to put things when speaking was harder.
Sometimes I start writing thinking I'm angry and realize halfway through that I'm actually hurt.
Sometimes I think something doesn't bother me anymore until I start writing about it.
And sometimes I write something, read it back, and finally understand what I've been trying to say.
Learning that researchers have actually spent decades studying this didn't make writing healing for me.
It helped me understand why something I was already doing might have been helping me all along.
And maybe writing won't be that thing for everybody.
But if you've got something sitting heavy in your head, grab a piece of paper sometime.
Don't worry about spelling.
Don't worry about grammar.
Don't worry about whether anybody else would understand it.
Nobody ever has to read it.
Just write.
You might be surprised by what comes out.
—Kayla
Studies & Sources
Pennebaker, J. W., & Beall, S. K. (1986).Confronting a traumatic event: Toward an understanding of inhibition and disease. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 95(3), 274–281.
PubMed – Pennebaker & Beall study
Guo, L. (2023).The delayed, durable effect of expressive writing on depression, anxiety and stress: A meta-analytic review of studies with long-term follow-ups. British Journal of Clinical Psychology, 62, 272–297. This analysis included 31 randomized controlled studies and 4,012 participants.
British Journal of Clinical Psychology – Full study
Weinman, J., Ebrecht, M., Scott, S., Walburn, J., & Dyson, M. (2008).Enhanced wound healing after emotional disclosure intervention. British Journal of Health Psychology.
PubMed – Wound healing study
Mogk, C., Otte, S., Reinhold-Hurley, B., & Kröner-Herwig, B. (2006).Health effects of expressive writing on stressful or traumatic experiences – a meta-analysis. This review found minor or no overall health effects, providing an important counterpoint to studies showing benefits.
PubMed Central – Expressive writing meta-analysis
Further reading:Emotional and physical health benefits of expressive writing, published by the Royal College of Psychiatrists, provides an overview of the expressive-writing research and its development.
Cambridge University Press – Expressive writing overview
