Expressive Writing

One of the most powerful ways to cope with anxiety and other challenging emotions is through expressive Writing. Suppressing thoughts and feelings can cause our body to enter “fight or flight” mode. Dr. David Hanscom has a website and a podcast in which he writes about strategies for managing anxiety and emotions that get trapped inside our bodies. As an orthopedic surgeon, he advocates for more non-surgical interventions to help reduce and eliminate physical pain. He uses expressive Writing as a preferred strategy for coping with emotions held inside the body. Dr Hanscom states, “We need excellent tools in our coping skill toolbox that help us to express or process our thoughts and emotions, and expressive writing is a tool no box should be without.”

The Curse of Consciousness (By Dr. Hanscom)

Unpleasant thoughts are sensory inputs that our nervous system identifies as threats. So, the body’s response is “fight or flight.” Unpleasant, repetitive thoughts become rooted in our brains and aren’t subject to reason, and the more attention you spend on them, the stronger they become. They can cause phantom brain pain and multiple other symptoms like chronic pain. The thoughts are the threat, and uncomfortable emotions are the feelings this stress physiology creates.

Stress is a Whole Body Response to Threats

Stress and pain work both ways. Intense feelings can trigger, amplify, or even create sensations of pain where there is no apparent cause, and pain can often cause stress in our everyday lives. Many people who suffer from chronic pain complain of severe pain after a personal loss, like a family death or job loss. Often, a patient’s pain will resolve once they begin healing from their loss— even when a severe structural problem is causing it.

How to Do Expressive Writing:

• Step 1: Write your thoughts on paper and try to lose yourself completely. Don't filter, censor, or overthink aloud! Don’t stop thinking or choosing words. Write and see what comes out.

• Step 2: When you’re done, destroy it. Rip it up into itty bitty pieces and throw them away, burn them (safely), bury them, or shred them.

• Step 3: Do this once a day for 5-15 minutes. Make it a habit, like taking a shower or washing your face. Even when your pain goes away, continue the expressive writing practice. This is just good emotional hygiene, like physical or bedtime hygiene.

  Why Am I Supposed to Destroy It?

• First of all, remember we can’t escape our unpleasant thoughts. Writing in this manner allows you to separate from your thoughts. As you write, many different things will come to the surface. These are not issues. They are just thoughts, and any time spent reviewing them reinforces them.

• The second reason to write this way is that when your thoughts are not discovered, your genuine thoughts and feelings are more likely to emerge. You have broken up the need for mental control, the underlying problem, and the driving power behind them. You can write the thoughts down and then let them go.

  Important!

• Don’t force yourself to do more than you are comfortable with! However, some emotional

  discomfort is normal. This is a long-term commitment, so small steps will work best.

• View this process as just an exercise and an essential starting point and not as the only answer to breaking up obsessive thought patterns. Natural healing happens when our nervous systems shift into more pleasant circuits; they can’t do that without first letting go.

  Why Do People Resist Engaging in this Simple Process?

  1. It seems too easy to have enough impact on such a big problem.
     • “I happened on it by accident without any idea it would have any effect on my prolonged suffering. Within two weeks after starting, I sensed a definitive mood shift, and six weeks later, I was beginning to feel much better. This after 15 years of struggling without any success. And If I stop for a few weeks, I am reminded of its power every time. About 3-5 of my symptoms consistently reappear and quickly resolve when I re-engage.”

  2. Humans need mental control. Writing breaks through this. “Letting go” can be troubling, and Writing is a defined action that moves you forward. This need for control causes disturbing and disruptive thought patterns. Only write about what you can tolerate. If you start developing increased anxiety and agitation, you should immediately stop writing until you feel ready to start again. When you restart, start slowly and be gentle with yourself.

  3. Your suffering isn’t being acknowledged. How can something so simple help heal your most intense pain? Research has shown that the impact of chronic pain on the quality of your life is similar to that of having terminal cancer.

  • But Remember, this is just an exercise and a starting point. The healing process has other layers.

Precautions

• Expressive Writing physically affects nervous system activity, alters metabolism, and changes the profile of stress chemistry regulated through the autonomic nervous system, which is the nerve supply to internal organs.

  Recap

• We can’t unlearn circuits, but you can build new ones and alter pain circuits to become more pleasant ones that go past the pain circuits.

• Expressive Writing helps your brain relearn and rewire its response to the experience that triggers the threat response and pain.

  Other Strategies:

  • Meditation
  • Sleep
  • Anger processing

  • Breathwork
  • Exercise and diet

  Medicine
  • Identify triggers

  I have seen patients deeply heal without engaging in this core exercise. The journey out of chronic mental and physical pain begins the day you start to write”

  Other Writing Techniques:

  • Verbal Expression
  • Switch to the 3rd Person
  • Air Writing