An Emotional Writing Project
I recently read a Reuters release on “Emotional” writing; apparently a study team led by Dr. M. Soledad Cepeda of Tufts-New England Medical Center in Boston, MA discovered that cancer patients could find value in writing down their emotions. Furthermore, the act of writing down their emotions might improve the pain symptoms and their overall well-being.
So, of course, I poked around for more information. I found the original abstract from the Journal of Pain & Symptom Management, the June 2008 issue, and read this:
“Subgroup analyses showed that patients whose narratives had high emotional disclosure had significantly less pain and reported higher well-being scores than patients whose narratives were less emotional.”
To clarify … the findings suggest that the emotional release of writing, specifically, is what helps patients deal with their cancer pain, according to Cepeda’s team. The quandary? It’s also possible that more seriously ill patients might find it more difficult to write about their feelings and they’re the ones who need to the most.
So, what can we do here with that information? Let’s start with something small. Are you willing to do some narrative writing to gain some therapeutic value? Grab a pad of paper or a journal and write about this: Think about the moment you were you diagnosed with breast cancer, whatever type/name/stage you were diagnosed with. What was that moment like for you? How did you feel when you first heard the words, ‘you have breast cancer’? If you feel moved to write more, please, don’t censor yourself.
Email me all or some of what you write at pinkribbonreview at gmail dot com or leave your response in the comments below … let’s get writing about the emotions we experienced and see if we can improve our well-being at the least. And if you share, you might encourage someone else to share, too, and that might improve their well-being. And when we find commonalities in our experiences and feelings, that might be therapeutic … so let’s give it a go, shall we?
2 opinions for An Emotional Writing Project
Pamir | Reiki Help Blog
Jul 30, 2008 at 10:00 am
Journaling is a safe place to communicate with yourself. It can also allow a depth experience where hidden material that isn’t available in regular discourse or thinking, can rise to the surface. And self-communication always leads to healing.
Karen Lynch
Aug 9, 2008 at 10:29 pm
Great point Pamir. Thanks so much for adding that to this post!
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