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There are various types of writing that can provide therapeutic benefits.

Writing about traumatic memories has been found to promote more positive mental health.

Writing in the morning, by hand, can be a very clarifying and intentional way to start each day.

In cognitive behavior therapy, writing is essential to the process of data collection and tracking progress.

Recently, a colleague asked me to share the ways I have used writing in my therapeutic work with clients over the years.It's an excellent question. I have been a therapist for a long time, but I now also spend most of my time writing, and I am keenly aware of the myriad ways writing has assisted me at every point in my journey.

His question brought back memories of when I gave clients prescriptions to write, and it produced salutary results. It also led me to seek the wisdom of some reliable voices on the topic. Here are a few applications of writing in healing.

Valuing and connecting to the inner life

The decision to begin writing down what has been carried unspoken inside the soul can be a life-altering experience in itself. It requires intentionally--and hopefully, unapologetically--creating time and space for oneself. Taking time to write in an uncensored, unhurried way makes a statement that the inner life is valuable and deserves examination. The soul should be heard, and one of the best ways to give it voice is through writing.

Healing traumaIn the literature, the use of writing in a systematic way to promote therapeutic growth and heal the effects of trauma dates to the 1980s. Specifically, to a test administered by a psychology professor, James Pennebaker, at the University of Texas. Pennebaker’s experiment was simple. He asked his students to identify a traumatic or painful event from childhood. Then, he divided the class into three groups, which wrote for 15 minutes per day for four consecutive days. The first group........

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