Writing to Vent

After doing research in writing, I found a lot of evidence supporting the fact that writing is a stress reliever especially when it comes to emotional distress and traumas. In the field of psychology this type of writing is called expressive writing. One of the reasons that writing about these experiences help the individual is because he/she can actually visualize the situation and express himself/herself on paper. Though sometimes it is hard to go over the events that cause emotional pain writing about those situations are a good way of releasing the hurt experienced.

Expressive writing also helps people with their writing skills because it is freestyle writing that is focused and centered on personal events, similar to a diary. In 2012 John F. Evans wrote a segment of articles in the Psychology today regarding this matter entitled Write Yourself Well, in the article named Expressive Writing, he writes that expressive writing comes from within us and it is catered to the feelings in the moments that we experience rather than the actual events.By focusing on the emotions in the event we improve both our psychological and physical health.

I find expressive writing the best out let for people that want to express themselves without the fear of the opinions of others or their input regarding what they are experiencing. Don’t get me wrong I believe there are times we should definitely express ourselves to family and friends but for those deep things we don’t wish to speak to anyone else, expressive writing is a great way to show your feelings without being embarrassed or shamed for feeling the way that you do.

To start I suggest you get a journal possibly with  a lock on it or keep it in a place where you know no one else will see it. Another possible way is to destroy it after writing it because the idea is simply to put your feelings on a page once you’ve written and read it burn or shred it.