Narrative therapy heals

Writing about difficult subjects and traumatic incidents helps people in a multitude of ways, suggests professor James W. Pennebaker at the University of Texas.  One often-repeated test was to have individuals write about a trauma or difficult situation for 15 minutes, three or four days in a row.

In more than 200 expressive writing experiments, spread over two decades, according to Pennebaker, results include positive impact on various health complaints and immune function. College students, for example, improved their adjustment to college, reduced their visits to the health center, and in some cases, improved their grades.

This writing experiment was undertaken by college students, inmates, pain suffers, medical students, engineers out of work, first-time mothers, and others. It was done in the U.S., Belgium, Mexico, and New Zealand. The results—improved mental and physical health held true.

Narrative writing seems to help organize and give meaning to emotional trauma and experiences that may be difficult or complex. It seems that the process of writing, which integrates emotions and thoughts, provides a way to summarize and then move past the event.

The stories can be either autobiographical or third person, says Pennebaker. However, just telling a story about oneself does not provide benefits. It’s the process of contemplating and creating the story that provides benefits.  So, for someone to recount a story about their childhood, based on what they’ve been told or remember, appears to have little benefit. However, if the person writes their own version of the story, connecting events, thoughts, emotions, and people, the results are positive.

~~~~

References:

Pennebaker, J.W. & Seagal, J. (1999). Forming a story: The health benefits of narrative. Journal of Clinical Psychology, 55, 1243-1254. Retrieved from http://homepage.psy.utexas.edu/HomePage/Faculty/Pennebaker/Reprints/Seagal1999.pdf

Pennebaker, J.W. (2010). Expressive writing in a clinical setting. The Independent Practitioner, 30, 23-25. Retrieved from http://homepage.psy.utexas.edu/homepage/faculty/pennebaker/reprints/Pennebaker_IP2010.pdf

How bibliotherapy changes the brain

The process of bibliotherapy, including reading, writing about what was read, discussing the book, and trying to live out those ideas, causes changes in the brain.

Teachers know that the more engaged students are, the more they learn. It’s the same with an individual child involved in bibliotherapy. According to Dr. James E. Zull, professor of biology and of biochemistry, learning that engages all parts of the brain causes more learning to occur. Dr. Zull describes the cognitive or cerebral cortex parts of the brain into: getting information, making meaning of the information, creating new ideas based on the information, and acting on the information.

In bibliotherapy, children are employing various aspects of their brain, thus learning by engaging all of their brain. In addition, bibliotherapy helps a child’s learning because it pushes the child to figure things out for themselves. Rather than explaining things, the use of stories, metaphors, analogies, and demonstration are what help students to learn (Zull, 2004).

So, change a child’s perception of themselves and their world by giving them bibliotherapy projects. Have them read a book, story or poem; write about what they read; discuss what they read; and put that information into practice in their daily life. You just might help a child to heal from their emotional wounds.

~~~

Zull, James E., The Art of Changing the Brain, Educational Leadership, 2004. Retrieved from http://coe.winthrop.edu/marchelc/Brain%20Development/brain%20pages/aarticles/
the_art_of_changing_the_brain.pdf