Words are healing - what are the therapeutic benefits of writing?
You cannot do therapeutic writing wrong. What matters is the thoughts and feelings that writing evokes.
Have you noticed how thoughts become clearer when you write them down?
Writing is a great tool for processing emotions, deepening self-awareness and even promoting physical health. And best of all, therapeutic writing doesn't require any special writing skills - it's all about the desire to explore your inner world.
The key to therapeutic writing is to let the words flow and the writing process carry you along. It cannot be done right or wrong, it is only how the writing makes you feel, what emotions, thoughts and insights it evokes, what memories it brings back.
Writing can be a way of structuring life, making room for new perspectives or simply giving emotions a safe place to vent.
In this blog post, I'll tell you how writing is therapeutic and how you can use this knowledge in your own life.
Writing helps to structure thoughts and feelings
When something life-changing happens, the mind tries to process it - but sometimes it doesn't. Emotions can spiral, past events recur, and thoughts can get tangled. Writing can help to untangle this mess.
Psychologist and cognitive psychotherapist Anita Lindquist has written about how writing works as both a self-help and psychotherapeutic tool. She points out that one of the greatest benefits of writing is the sense of control it gives: the writer can decide when, how and at what pace to deal with difficult issues.
"He doesn't have to say what he's not ready for yet," says Lindquist.
This means that writing can be particularly useful in working through traumatic experiences, because it allows you to move forward at your own pace.
📌 Example: you have experienced a difficult loss, but you are not yet ready to talk about it. You can start to process the loss by writing down individual words or phrases about what you are feeling. Over time, the words can turn into a story that helps you understand what you've been going through - and maybe even find a new perspective on your experience.
Studies have shown that writing can even affect your physical health. Research by James W. Pennebaker and colleagues suggests that writing about emotionally upsetting, stressful or distressing personal life experiences, combining emotion and fact, even as a short-term activity, can contribute to both physical health and mental health.
Expressing your feelings and experiences through writing can reduce stress hormones in the body, strengthen the immune system and even speed up recovery from illness. This makes writing much more than just a mind management tool: it can also be a way to support your body's well-being.
Are you the main character in your own story?
Each of us tells ourselves a story about our own lives - but what kind of story is it? Are you an active agent who influences your own life, or does it feel like life just happens to you?
Karoliina Maanmieli, a literacy therapist and writing researcher, has written about how people perceive their illnesses and crises as part of their own life story. How we talk to ourselves about past experiences affects how we see the future.
"Creative writing, which is characteristic of literary therapy, serves as a method to transfer the traumatic experience from bodily memory to linguistic memory at one's own pace," Maanmieli writes.
📌 Exercise: try writing your life story in two different ways.
Write down an event from the past as you experienced it at the time.
Rewrite the same event in a way that shows learning and growth.
🔹 Example: "As a child, I was always shy and could never make my voice heard." → "I was shy as a child, but it taught me sensitivity and the ability to observe the world in a different way."
Even a small change in the way we frame our experiences can change the way we see ourselves.
"Untreated trauma affects people's lives, at worst the next generations."
Writing creates distance and frees the mind from racing thoughts
When something feels too big to face, it can get stuck in your mind. Writing gives you a way to distance yourself from it and view the experience from a safe distance.
Trauma psychotherapist and literary therapist Jaana Huldén has used writing exercises in her work to help clients verbalise their feelings and gain new insights. One of the most effective methods is externalizing writing.
📌 Try this: Write about your fear or anxiety as if it were a living character. What does it look like? What does it say to you?
This can help you to see your feelings from the outside and make them less dominant.
📸 Exercise 2: Take out a picture of yourself as a child and write about it. What does that child look like? What would you like to say to him or her now?
This can open up a new perspective on your own history and help you to see yourself more gently.
Writing is an excellent way to distance yourself from painful issues and to look at them from a safe distance.
How to get started with therapeutic writing - try these exercises
If you want to try therapeutic writing, start with these exercises:
✍️ Free stream of consciousness writing: write for 5-10 minutes at a stretch without thinking about what you are writing. Let your thoughts flow freely.
Research by James W. Pennebaker shows that just 15-20 minutes of expressive writing several days in a row can help reduce stress and improve mood. In particular, processing emotions and reflecting deeply through writing can help the mind structure experiences more effectively.
💌 The letter you never send: write a letter to yourself, someone from your past or even an emotion you're struggling with.
This exercise can help you deal with unresolved conflicts or express emotions that are difficult to say out loud. For example, in expressive writing integrated into therapy, it has been found that this kind of externalisation of feelings on paper can improve self-esteem and relieve psychological distress.
📖 Narrative rewriting: rewrite your experience from a different perspective, as if it were a short story or a scene from a film.
In particular, writing about traumatic or difficult experiences in a new way can change the way you feel about them. This is based on the principles of narrative therapy, where your own life story can be shaped to be more empowering.
📝 List the things you are afraid to say out loud: Write a list of topics that seem difficult. Think about why they feel off limits.
This exercise can help you identify your own unconscious beliefs and fears. It is known that expressing feelings in writing can reduce their emotional burden and promote constructive processing.
🔹 Additional tip: Combine writing with breathing exercises or mindfulness. After you've written, take a moment to breathe deeply and let the text sink in. This can help you integrate the insights you get while writing into your body and mind.
Studies have shown that combining mindfulness and writing can enhance the benefits of both, such as reducing anxiety and developing emotional skills.
Words can be the key to change
The most important thing in therapeutic writing is never the end result, but the process itself. Writing is not an accomplishment - it is a way of facing oneself and finding new perspectives on one's life.
Writing is unlikely to change your life overnight, but it can be a journey towards a deeper understanding of yourself and those around you. Whether it's a trauma, a crisis or simply a need to articulate your own mind, writing can provide a way forward.
Give yourself permission to experiment. You may find that words can carry you more firmly than you thought.
Sources and more information
The writing is mainly based on the following articles from the book Juhani Ihanus (ed.): Therapeutic Writing (Basam Books 2022):
Anita Lindquist: Writing as a self-help and psychotherapeutic method
Karoliina Maanmieli: Illness narratives and literary therapy
Jaana Huldén: Writing in trauma therapy.
New Beginnings - literary therapy group
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New start literary therapy group ***
Need a fresh start?
If you want to try therapeutic writing, join the New Beginnings literary therapy group. The group meets six times in Matinkylä, Espoo. The group can deal with painful experiences such as loss, burnout or other personal struggles, but it is also suitable for you if you just feel drawn to introspection through writing, reading and discussion. For more information, click here.