Tap Into the Power of Your Pen

Journaling can relieve trauma, strengthen the immune system, and improve self-confidence

It should feel like a burden is being lifted when you write. naito29/Shutterstock

Trauma survivors are learning that a simple pen and notebook can unlock healing, improve resiliency, and bring balance to a haywire nervous system.

The beauty of this remedy is that so little is required. You don’t need a background in writing. You don’t even need to love writing. You don’t even need to go anywhere to receive help if you don’t want to, thanks to online classes in the many different forms of writing. All you need is an open mind and a desire to improve your health.

Casandra Austin-McDonald began journaling in the hospital after a near-fatal suicide attempt.

“I realized I was there because I had not healed my trauma,” she said.

A childhood trauma survivor who started her career in the criminal justice system, Austin-McDonald hasn’t stopped writing since that turning point, modifying her journal entries into a published book, “Unclothed: Memoir of a Naked Soul.” She’s now a professional speaker and life coach who guides women into self-actualized transformation.

“So much poured out of me when I actually started writing because there was so much I needed to process,” she said. “I get fueled by my own writing. I literally will pull the car over sometimes to write something down.”

While some trauma sufferers might have a writer’s intuition, experts say anyone can utilize the power of the written word to bring balance back to their health. Just as our physical body grows stronger by exercising, our emotional health gains resilience by regularly reflecting on and expressing thoughts and feelings. And the benefits spill over into physical health, too.

“Anyone can journal. Journaling can be a powerful tool for well-being and mental health,” said Diana Raab, who has written several books on using writing for healing.

It should feel like a burden is being lifted when you write, Raab says. If it makes you feel worse, sadder, or more anxious, she suggested taking a break and trying again later. For the most part, there are no harmful side effects to journaling.

Journaling for Trauma

If you’ve never journaled, try experimenting with different styles to manage your stress or simply to track your healing progress and growth, Raab advises. Whatever your reason, have it front of mind when you begin, so you can determine if it’s effective. For instance, you might set a goal to work with your inner critic to stop a cycle of shame.

Raab suggested exploring these common styles:

• Reflective journaling: Write about your experiences and describe your feelings about them.
• Gratitude journaling: Write about what you’re grateful for. This could be a list, or you could elaborate at a deeper level. It tends to be effective first thing in the morning or right before bed.
• Travel journaling: Take a special journal with you while traveling as a way to document your trip.
• Visual journaling: Combine words with art or drawings. You might draw an illustration on the left side of the page and write something on the right side.
• Food journaling: This is for those tracking food intake, to monitor weight loss or gain. You might also use it to document any food allergy reactions or emotions connected to eating habits or allergic reactions.

“The key to successful journaling is in the regularity,” Raab said. “It should be a habit that you incorporate into your daily routine.”

There’s just one rule for wellness writing: the three-day rule.

According to John F. Evans, creator of Duke Integrative Medicine’s online course, Transform Your Health: Write to Heal: “If you find yourself covering the same ground over and over with the same emotion for three days straight, it may be time to move on. Either write about the topic in an entirely different way or leave the topic alone for a while.”

He added that therapeutic value is also found in writing drama, poetry, fiction, essays, unsent letters, lists, and memoirs.

Trauma Memoirs: To Publish or Not

Now its own category of books, trauma memoirs can be beneficial but writing coaches are quick to advise that you aren’t writing just for yourself. Sharing your narrative is an artistic endeavor intended to move your audience, not a compilation of your most traumatic events for your own sake.

Also, if you are journaling with the thought of others later reading your words, it may make it difficult to be fully honest with yourself and benefit from the pure self-reflection that journaling offers.

Besides journaling, prose and poetry are also powerful tools often suggested for soldiers with post-traumatic stress disorder, according to Steve Donahue, an author and book coach.

“Telling a beautiful story about a terrible thing is transformational. Even if this was not the primary reason for writing your book, it’s one of the potential benefits of doing it well,” he wrote in a 2021 blog post.

Austin-McDonald’s therapist encouraged her to keep journaling her own life story. Ultimately, she felt compelled to edit out a lot of the “emotional vomiting” and share her story to let other victims of childhood trauma know they aren’t alone.

“It was really God-led,” she said. “I get these nudges from God, and I listen and I follow it, and it turns into something.”

Set Yourself Up for Success

Unless you’re writing for an audience, and perhaps even if you are, you don’t need to be concerned about proper punctuation and spelling. What’s most important is establishing habits that will facilitate healing and joy.

Here are some tips from Raab and Evans:

• Use a journal and a pen you love. They should inspire you to pick them up and use them on a regular basis.
• Write whenever you want and especially when you notice strong emotions to express something that happened or something someone said or did.
• Carve out a time of day and establish a consistent place where you will write uninterrupted for at least 20 minutes.
• Always date the top of your page.
• Ground yourself in the moment by either a short meditation or taking a few deep breaths in and out.
• Spend a few minutes thinking about your trauma and where you feel it in your body. Consider how it affected you and your loved ones.
• If you get stuck, write about yourself using third person to see if it changes perspective.
• Begin by writing, “Right now, I feel ...” And see where it goes. Try to provide as many details as possible.

“The beauty about journaling is that it’s unlike an essay, which needs a beginning, middle, and end,” Raab said. “It can be stream-of-consciousness or automatic writing where you allow your thoughts to take you where they want. It’s okay if you begin writing about one thing and you’re brought down memory lane to something else. The important thing is that you’re writing.”

Try Using Prompts

For those who are new to journaling or to get out of writer’s block, prompts can be useful.

Raab’s latest book, “Writing for Bliss: A Seven-Step Plan for Telling Your Story and Transforming Your Life,” has prompts throughout, in addition to a section at the end of the book listing prompts.

Some of the ones she offers on her website are:

• Write about a vivid childhood experience, either joyful or painful (or both).
• Write a poem beginning with “I do not know ...”
• Finish: “My intention for today is ...”
• Write a heartfelt love letter to a special person in your life, here or departed.
• Write about a colorful family member.

Expect Positive Outcomes

Studies have been accumulating since the early 1980s about the physical effects writing has, including lowering the heart rate, strengthening the body’s ability to fight off infections, improving self-esteem, and helping people overcome obstacles, according to Evans.

One study of college students in 1986 who wrote for 15 minutes on four consecutive days about the most traumatic or upsetting experiences of their lives, while the control group wrote about superficial topics, resulted in a decrease in health problems. The group that wrote their deepest feelings had fewer visits to the health center and fewer days of illness.

Similar results have been shown in many studies since with outcomes such as:

• Reduced blood pressure
• Improved liver function
• Reduced depressive symptoms before examinations
• Reduced absenteeism from work
• Quicker re-employment after job loss
• Improved working memory
• Fewer days in the hospital
• Improved sporting performance
• Higher grade point average
• Altered social and linguistic behavior

Austin-McDonald noted that she has worked with clients whose moms read their childhood journals, and they were triggered by journaling or couldn’t fully express their deepest thoughts. In that case, writing may not be best. But there are other avenues such as music, tapping, yoga, and drama that can help process feelings.

“Writing literally saved my life,” she said. “You have to find a way to speak what your soul wants to say.”

Studies of interest:

1. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8935176/
2. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S1744388118306157?via%3Dihub
3. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2666560322000810
4. https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/advances-in-psychiatric-treatment/article/emotional-and-physical-health-benefits-of-expressive-writing/ED2976A61F5DE56B46F07A1CE9EA9F9F