When something is weighing on you, you can write thoughts and feelings down for several days in a row, but do not expect it to cure disease

Writing down a bad experience has a small average benefit. Pooled conclusions also disagree; two pooled analyses found no clear effect. It costs almost nothing, so you can try it. When emotional problems are heavy, do not use it instead of seeing a doctor.

Cost

No money. A common study setup is writing 3 to 4 times, 15 to 20 minutes each. Write about something that hurts, and write your deepest thoughts and feelings.

Benefit

One analysis pooled 146 randomized studies (meta-analysis). People wrote or spoke about something important to them. The average effect was positive and significant, but small, effect size r = .075. Another pool took only randomized controlled trials; 30 trials together showed no significant effect on physical or mental health. Sixteen randomized trials in people with cancer and survivors, pooled, were non-significant on psychological, physical, and quality-of-life outcomes. On the psychological side g = 0.04, 95% CI -0.06 to 0.14.

Notes

Contested. Support comes from the 146-study pool, with a positive but small effect. Opposition comes from two pools limited to randomized controlled trials, neither finding a significant effect. How many times and how long per session in the Cost line come from the earliest experimental design, noted in the abstract of Mogk’s pool. It is included because it costs almost no money and little time, and one person can do it alone. When you do not want to talk or have no one to talk to, you can use it. What is measured is not energy; calling the frame “time” is the author’s classification. If writing makes you feel worse and worse, stop and call 12356; see Section 1, Item 25 (12356).

Sources · 3

1. Frattaroli J (2006). Experimental disclosure and its moderators: a meta-analysis. Psychological Bulletin. doi.org/10.1037/0033-2909.132.6.823
2. Mogk C, Otte S, Reinhold-Hurley B, Kröner-Herwig B (2006). Health effects of expressive writing on stressful or traumatic experiences - a meta-analysis. Psycho-Social Medicine. ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2736499/
3. Zachariae R, O'Toole MS (2015). The effect of expressive writing intervention on psychological and physical health outcomes in cancer patients--a systematic review and meta-analysis. Psycho-Oncology. doi.org/10.1002/pon.3802