The Importance of Writing

In the 80s psychologist James W. Pennebaker conducted studies with his associate Sandra Beale at Southern Methodist University in Dallas, Texas. Student participants were divided into groups and asked to write for 15 minutes a day. One group was asked to write about something trivial, like describing the room they were in. The next three groups were asked to writing about their traumatic experiences. Some students cried as they wrote; some reported dreaming about their writing over the four days. Four months later, those who had written linking events to feelings reported overall significant improvements in mood. They also showed boosted immune systems with increased tea, olympocyte production in response to the foreign mitogen's phytohy