What Does "Self Help" Mean?

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Spend 15 minutes writing through deep emotion to clear your mind and boost long-term health.

Externalize daily work frustrations in a daybook to stop rumination and find peace.

Write before or after a medical procedure to accelerate recovery.

Use writing to practice how you will show up for future events.

I recently had a loss.

Of the professional kind, but still, it felt like a death of sorts. The loss of the opportunity charged me to wrestle with some hard truths, contemplate how to fill the hole left by the void, and navigate a road to acceptance, a place I haven’t yet arrived.

But as a writer who founded and co-directed my university’s writing project, I did what I have always known to do. I wrote. This writing was not for public consumption but rather a private conversation in my daybook (my word for journal), a practice learned from Don Murray (1991), the mentor I never met, whose widely prescribed writing advice was to write privately from wounds and publicly from scars.

Inside my daybook, I was engaging in expressive writing, a powerful practice pioneered by James Pennebaker (1997), Professor Emeritus of Psychology at the University of Texas at Austin. His original research was carried out with college students, in which the experimental group was asked to explore their deepest emotions and thoughts around a stressful or traumatic event, while the control group was invited to write about innocuous happenings, like documenting what they did over the last day, couching it as an exploration of time management. Each group wrote for 15 minutes across four consecutive days; all entries remained anonymous.

Though some students in the experimental group experienced negative moods and elevated blood pressure immediately following their writing sessions, in the long term, they enjoyed more positive health outcomes, as measured by subsequent visits to the student health center across a six-month period (Pennebaker & Beall, 1986).

These results have been replicated across decades and with diverse populations, including war veterans, cancer survivors, new mothers, caregivers, health care workers, first responders, victims of crime, those who have lost their jobs, and the incarcerated. Plus, the duration and spacing of each writing session appear to be inconsequential. Across studies, session lengths ranged from 2 to 30 minutes, and time duration between sessions spanned hours to weeks (Baddeley & Pennebaker, 2011; Kartikaningsih et al., 2023; Pennebaker & Smyth, 2016; Procaccia et al., 2021; Sexton et al., 2009; Vieira, 2019; Wu et al., 2021).

You, however, do not need to be in an expressive writing study to reap the benefits. Like me, simply sit down and write about what is hurting your heart and keep returning to the page for at least several days. Then, watch your mind clear, your mood elevate, and new understandings bubble up from the page.

In addition to expressive writing protocols, there are other similar and powerful ways to put writing to work to combat stress, aid in healing, reflect on what you are learning from books, and serve as a practice tool for navigating future events.

Write to Reduce Stress

Writing has been shown to be a great stress buster. El-Kader (2026) and colleagues conducted research on first-year nursing students, inviting them to write about topics that typically cause elevated stress and anxiety, such as exams, academic expectations, and general college life. They found the process produced significant stress reduction immediately following each writing invitation, and the effects remained strong three months out.

I regularly put this practice to work, taking time most evenings and sometimes midday to record my emotions brought on by daily work stressors. By externalizing my internal monologue, I stop the rumination cycle, and frustrations untangle. Plus, such self-disclosure releases the pressure valve, shielding my family from my rantings, for I have already gotten it all out before we sit down for dinner.

What Does "Self Help" Mean?

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Write to Accelerate Healing

Unlike the regular occurrence of daily stress, sometimes unexpected health concerns force us to stop the clock and take a necessary pause for medical treatment. Robinson and colleagues (2017) conducted a study of patients undergoing a punch biopsy, with some participants engaging in reflective writing before the procedure and others afterward. Both groups showed that privately recording their emotions accelerated healing compared to those who simply wrote about neutral topics. In addition, research indicates that engaging in writing about trepidation about the procedure prior to its occurrence or within the first six days following is more likely to assist with healing than postponing the start date of writing.

Several years back, after a serious car accident, I started writing on the third day following my second surgery, and continued that practice on each consecutive day for the next six months, finding the practice to be cathartic. Plus, now I have a written history of a traumatic event, and as a researcher, that fascinates me. This summer, as an autoethnographic endeavor, I plan to code my daybook entries for emerging themes in an attempt to better understand my experience and situate it more broadly within the stories of others who suffer from chronic pain (Chang, 2008).

Pair Writing With Books

Books like writing are a salve, offering insights into ourselves and others and, at times, an escape hatch when the world feels overwhelming. When reading and writing are paired, the impact can magnify. For example, Bowman (2020) partnered poetry, lyrics, and books on grief with his own creative wonderings to navigate the complex trauma of losing his grandson to an overdose.

Sharma (2023) conducted a form of dyadic bibliotherapy, the reading of informational and self-help books to help individuals understand and manage an identified emotional challenge. Working with students enrolled in a Post-Graduation Diploma in Management Program, she helped to identify two skills in need of development: self-management or the regulation of thoughts, emotions, and behaviors; and efficacy-building or the process of cultivating someone’s personal belief in their ability to complete a specific task or find success in a specific circumstance. To aid in this work, she identified nine self-help books, pairing assigned reading with reflective journal entries in which students internalized the text and applied it to their personal situation and career goals. Next, they shared these insights with their peers and culminated the experience by writing a letter to the author about salient insights, a process that allowed them to document their growth in the targeted areas.

Though I have used a similar process in my undergraduate senior seminars, I also regularly engage in the personal practice. For example, a few weeks ago, I read Nolan’s (2026) A Good Woman: A Reckoning. Deeply connecting to her essays, throughout that reading, I texted favorite quotes to friends that sparked conversations and recorded reflections in my daybook. Those reflections began as cathartic outpourings of emotional connection and transitioned into actionable steps to intentionally put my new learning into practice.

Write to Rehearse Future Events

Lastly, writing can be an act of rehearsal, a trying out of how you wish to cope or show up for a future event. Zhang (2023) and colleagues, as part of a larger protocol, had participants, over four days, write future-focused reflections, or rehearsal entries, documenting what they would do and say if the stressor or traumatic event were to happen again. Those who engaged in rehearsal writing exhibited a greater propensity to stay actively engaged in potentially challenging situations, as opposed to retreating. Rehearsing through writing may also increase resilience due to the cognitive restructuring of past patterns of unproductive behavior, setting people up for future success.

The writing experiences shared above can be tried out in the privacy of your own home, as I have often done myself, but their power may be better understood and magnified when working in partnership with a mental health professional, especially when the pain or situation is significant.

In many ways, all types of writing are autobiographical, bringing ourselves inside the experience, regardless of the topic, as Don Murray (1991) aptly describes, “As I look back, I suspect that no matter how I tuned the lyre, I played the same tune. All my writing—and yours—is autobiographical” (p. 66). It is within this understanding that a reckoning occurs. Storytelling, in this sense, whether it be through writing, painting, or performance, is a way of reflecting on past stories, integrating experiences into the present moment, and making plans for a brighter future (Mesa et al., 2025).

Baddeley, J. L., & Pennebaker, J. W. (2011). A postdeployment expressive writing intervention for military couples: A randomized controlled trial. Journal of Traumatic Stress, 24(5), 581–585. https://doi.org/10.1002/jts.20679

Chang, H. (2008). Autoethnography as method. Left Coast Press.

El-Kader, R. G. A., Aneesh, R. S., Ragab, B. M., Sheryl, T. A., Ahmed, T. M. I., Mohamed, A. I., Alanazi, M, Elwasefy, S. A, Moreljwab, M. H., Fadul Mokhtar A. M. (2026). Write to heal: The impact of an expressive writing intervention on stress in first-year nursing students. BMC Nursing, 25(1), 1–8. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12912-025-04271-7

Kartikaningsih, N., Lawson, K., Mayhan, M., Spears, E., Chew, O., Green, S., Tucker, S. C., Kirklin, K., & Yuen, H. K. (2023). The impact of an expressive writing and storytelling program on ex-offenders: A pilot study. International Journal of Offender Therapy & Comparative Criminology.

Mesa, N., Duque, M., Martinez, A. & Pink, S. (2025). Breast scars and creative well-being: Personal stories and experiences of healing. Women’s Health (London, England), 21, 17455057251327839. https://doi.org/10.1177/17455057251327839

Murray, D. M. (1991). All writing is autobiography. College Composition and Communication, 42(1), 66-74.

Nolan, S. (2026). Good woman: A reckoning. Mariner Books.

Pennebaker, J. W. (1997). Writing about emotional experiences as a therapeutic process. Psychological Science, 8(3), 162–166. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9280.1997.tb00403.x

Pennebaker, J. W., & Beall, S. K. (1986). Confronting a traumatic event: toward an understanding of inhibition and disease. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 95(3), 274–281. https://doi.org/10.1037//0021-843x.95.3.274

Pennebaker, J. W., & Smyth, J. M. (2016). Opening up by writing it down: How expressive writing improves health and eases emotional pain (Third edition). The Guilford Press.

Procaccia, R., Segre, G., Tamanza, G., & Manzoni, G. M. (2021). Benefits of expressive writing on healthcare workers’ psychological adjustment during the COVID-19 pandemic. Frontiers in Psychology, 12, 624176. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2021.624176

Robinson, H., Jarrett, P., Vedhara, K., & Broadbent, E. (2017). The effects of expressive writing before or after punch biopsy on wound healing. Brain, Behavior & Immunity, 61, 217–227. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bbi.2016.11.025

Sexton, J. D., Pennebaker, J. W., Holzmueller, C. G., Wu, A. W., Berenholtz, S. M., Swoboda, S. M., Pronovost, P. J., & Sexton, J. B. (2009). Care for the caregiver: Benefits of expressive writing for nurses in the United States. Progress in Palliative Care, 17(6), 307–312. https://doi.org/10.1179/096992609X12455871937620

Sharma, D. (2023). Using developmental bibliotherapy design to improve self-management skills of post-graduate students. Journal of Poetry Therapy, 36(2), 95–113. https://doi.org/10.1080/08893675.2022.2115696

Vieira, K. (2019). Writing’s potential to heal: Women writing from their bodies. Community Literacy Journal, 13(2), 20–47.

Wu, Y., Liu, L., Zheng, W., Zheng, C., Xu, M., Chen, X., Li, W., Xie, L., Zhang, P., Zhu, X., Zhan, C., & Zhou, C. (2021). Effect of prolonged expressive writing on health outcomes in breast cancer patients receiving chemotherapy: A multicenter randomized controlled trial. Supportive Care in Cancer, 29(2), 1091–1101. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00520-020-05590-y

Zhang, W., Jhang, J., & Greenwell, M. R. (2023). Effects of replay and rehearsal expressive writing on mental health: a randomized controlled trial. Journal of Mental Health, 32(3), 582–591. https://doi.org/10.1080/09638237.2022.2140783

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