How to Journal Through a Traumatic Event

How to Journal Through a Traumatic Event
Pennebaker says that it’s not really useful to try journaling while you’re in the midst of experiencing a traumatic event. To reap the long-term health benefits that journaling can provide, you’ll need to be in a mental place where you can get some distance on the event in order to reflect on it.

Pennebaker should know. For over 25 years, he has been a leading researcher in the long-term healthful effects of journaling. In his book “Opening Up,” he describes a writing procedure he developed that has proved effective for many people coping with trauma and other kinds of stress. Here’s what he suggests:

• For 15 minutes a day over four consecutive days, write about the troubling event. Really let go and explore in as much depth as possible your thoughts and feelings about what happened. You should include how you felt about what happened, how you feel about it now and how you feel the event is affecting your life, work, relationships and so on. Try to go deeper each day.
• Don’t worry about spelling, grammar or penmanship. If you’re afraid someone will see your writing, you can destroy it after you finish. It’s the act of journaling that promotes the healing process.
• You can write about the same event each day or choose another one. Just make sure you write about something that is emotionally significant for you.

A Few Important Disclaimers
While journaling has helped many people deal with trauma and stress, Pennebaker and Markman are quick to caution that it’s not the only way to heal trauma and it isn’t guaranteed to work for everyone.

Journaling is not an easy fix. Like embarking on a new exercise regimen, it’s quite common to feel discomfort as you begin, and you may have to keep at it before you begin to feel the long-term benefits of journaling. But don’t give up.

If you choose to try journaling to relieve traumatic emotional pain—if only for a few days—you just might find that you’ll begin to sleep, work and interact better. You’ll gain a deeper understanding of an event that no longer holds you hostage in your life.       

Want To Know More?
To learn more about James Pennebaker’s research and methods, visit his website,or read his book “Opening Up: The Healing Power of Expressing Emotions.”

Jeanette Leardi is an instructor of journaling, memoir-writing, personal mythmaking and storytelling. A longtime freelance writer and editor, her publishing experiences also include staff positions at Newsweek, Life, People, and Condé Nast Traveler magazines, and The Charlotte Observer.