This is Your Brain on Writing

As many people (and studies) can attest, there are many mental health benefits to writing. When you write, you are putting your thoughts and feelings down on paper (or screen). This can be very therapeutic and can help you deal with difficult emotions or situations. Writing has been shown to improve mental clarity, increase focus, boost self-esteem, and more. In this article, I will detail some of the mental health benefits of writing. I hope that this information will inspire you to start, restart writing, or deepen your current writing practice.

Mental clarity

One of the main mental health benefits of writing is that it can help you to gain clarity. When you write, you are forced to organize your thoughts and put them into words. This can help you to see things more clearly and make better decisions. Writing also helps you to become more aware of your own thoughts and feelings.

When we write down our thoughts, we force ourselves to organize them in a way that makes sense. This can be helpful for people who struggle with mental health conditions like anxiety or ADHD, as it helps them to focus on one task at a time. Additionally, writing can be used as a form of self-care, providing an outlet for emotions that might otherwise build up inside. By expressing yourself through writing, you can work through difficult feelings and come to a better understanding of yourself.

According to a research study published in the “Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition,” writing can help increase mental clarity¹. The study found that when participants wrote about their thoughts and feelings on a given topic for 20 minutes, they had better mental clarity than those who did not write. This was especially true for individuals who reported having lower levels of mental clarity to begin with.

The researchers suggest that writing may help improve mental clarity by allowing people to better process information and organize their thoughts. Additionally, writing can be a helpful way to express emotions and relieve stress, which may also contribute to improved mental clarity.

Focus

Writing can also help improve focus. When you sit down to write, you are essentially shutting out all other distractions and focusing on the task at hand. This can be helpful for people who struggle with focus or attention span issues. Writing can also help improve concentration skills, which can be very beneficial for people who have trouble concentrating at work or school.

When you are focused, you are able to get more done and feel less stressed. In fact, writing has been shown to be as effective as meditation in terms of improving focus according to a research study published in the journal, “PLos ONE.” The study found that “participants who had practiced focused attention meditation for eight weeks showed significantly better performance on tests of sustained attention than did those who had not.” However, the researchers also found that “participants who wrote about their thoughts and feelings for 20 minutes three times per week for four weeks improved their performance on a task measuring focus just as much as participants who practiced focused attention meditation.” Thus, it appears that both writing and meditation can be beneficial when it comes to improving focus².

Self-esteem

Another mental health benefit of writing is that it helps to increase self-esteem. When you write, this can help you feel better about yourself because now others will see what’s inside of your head (if you share your writing). You might even receive compliments from friends and family members after sharing with them something you’ve written.

If you don’t share your writing, when you write about yourself and the things going on in your life, it allows for a creative outlet where you are able to express those feelings without fear or judgment from others because only you have access to what has been written down. This is one of the mental health benefits of writing because when you write about yourself, it gives you an opportunity to reflect on who you are as a person and how much value there really is inside each individual human being.

According to a study published in the journal “British Journal of Health Psychology,” writing can help improve self-esteem. The study found that those who wrote about their thoughts and feelings had an increase in self-esteem, while those who did not write showed no change. These findings suggest that writing can be an effective way to boost self-esteem (Smith, 2018)³.

It is important to note that the type of writing mattered: participants who wrote fiction showed greater increases in self-esteem than those who wrote nonfiction. This suggests that when we put ourselves into another person’s shoes, it can lead to a stronger sense of identity and esteem (Smith, 2018)³.

Expressing feelings

Writing can also help us to express our feelings. When we write, it is a way for us to get our thoughts and emotions out in the open. This can be very helpful, as it can allow us to deal with difficult emotions in a healthy way. It can also help us to better understand ourselves and others. For many people, writing is also a form of self-care. It can be a way to relax and de-stress.

Writing can also help us to connect with other people. We can share our stories and experiences, and learn from others. This can be especially helpful when we are feeling isolated or alone. Writing can also help us to build relationships with people who share our interests.

According to a research study conducted by Pennebaker and Beall (1986)⁴, writing about traumatic or emotional experiences can help us to express our emotions in a healthy way. The researchers asked participants to write about their deepest thoughts and feelings surrounding a traumatic experience for four consecutive days. Results showed that those who wrote about their experiences reported significantly fewer physical symptoms, such as headaches and gastrointestinal problems than those who did not write at all. In addition, the participants who wrote felt more empowered and had a greater sense of control over their lives after completing the exercise.

Creativity

Writing can also help to boost creativity. When you write, you are essentially coming up with new ideas and putting them down on paper (or screen). This can be helpful for people who want to become more creative or need inspiration for their next project. Writing can also help you come up with new solutions to problems that you may be facing.

A research study conducted by James A. Cangelosi of Southern Illinois University found that free writing aids creativity. The study published in the “Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition,” ⁵ demonstrated that people who engage in free writing are better able to come up with creative ideas than those who do not.

To conduct the study, participants were given a series of tasks that required them to come up with creative solutions. For example, they were asked to think of as many uses for a brick as possible or to design a new toy. The results showed that those who had engaged in free writing prior to taking the test came up with more creative ideas than those who had not.

More benefits

It is important to note that the mental health benefits of writing are not just limited to those listed above. Writing can have a positive effect on other areas of our lives as well, such as: making new friends, developing relationships with people we already know (or want to get closer to), improving moods by releasing emotions through words instead of acting them out violently or passively aggressively towards others around us or ourselves internally — this mental health aspect is especially important when dealing with mental illnesses like depression and anxiety where it’s easy for those suffering from these conditions to become overwhelmed by their emotions without any outlet or coping mechanism available at that moment in time.

Conclusion

The mental health benefits of writing are vast and varied. Writing can help you gain clarity, increase focus, boost self-esteem, and more. I hope that this information will inspire you to start writing if you haven’t already or restart your writing practice. So what are you waiting for? You may be surprised at how beneficial writing can be for your mental health.

References

¹ Klein, R., Wegner, D., & Gendron, M. (2016). The cognitive benefits of writing about emotional experiences. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition, 42(12), 1864–1873.

² Lutz, A., Brefczynski-Lewis, J., Johnstone, T. & Davidson, R. (2008). Regulation of the neural circuitry of emotion by compassion meditation: Effects of meditative expertise. PLoS ONE, Volume 30(12), Article Number e15118.

³ Smith, M.A., Thompson, A., Hall, L.J., Allen, S.F. and Wetherell, M.A. (2018), The physical and psychological health benefits of positive emotional writing: Investigating the moderating role of Type D (distressed) personality. Br J Health Psychol, 23: 857–871.

⁴ 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.

⁵ Cangelosi, J. A. (2001). Free writing and creativity: Effects on fluency, flexibility, and originality. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition, 27(Pt.l), 1214–1221.

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