Writing for wellbeing can re-wire our brains, and help us to live healthier and happier lives

When we reflect on the moments in our lives that we have felt happiest, they are often when we have felt most connected to ourselves and loved ones.

Researchers in the social and physical sciences are now increasingly aware of the importance of strong social connections for our emotional and physiological wellbeing. The short- and long-term impacts of enforced pandemic lockdowns are stark reminders of the effects that feeling isolated can have on all of us.

Feeling isolated

Even before Covid-19, experts understood that strong social connections play a bigger role in whether people enjoy long and happy lives than money, IQ, social class and our genes do. One of the longest-term studies into human happiness - the Harvard Study of Adult Development - tracked people over almost 80 years from 1938. Its results revealed that our relationships, and how happy we feel in them, have a powerful impact on our bodies and minds – and can therefore help to protect us from mental and physical decline.

Loneliness, or the absence of strong social ties, can harm our physical health as much as smoking, high blood pressure and obesity can (Cacioppo & Patrick, 2008). Robert Waldinger, director of the study at Harvard, warned that loneliness can shorten people’s lives saying: “Loneliness kills…it’s as powerful as smoking or alcoholism.” In a TED Talk on what makes us happy, he said that meaningful connections make our minds and our bodies stronger.

Writing for wellbeing

Writing for wellbeing is a powerful tool that we can all use to create, and nurture, meaningful connections with ourselves, others and the world around us. It can make us feel happier by supporting us to increase our awareness of our relationships with ourselves and others, and therefore help us to shape healthier connections. It is now recognised as being able to do so by helping us to change the way that we feel, think and behave – or ‘self-directed’ neuroplasticity (Ross & Adams, 2016).

Back in the 1980s, social psychologist James Pennebaker first coined the term ‘expressive writing’ when he began to use the practice to help clients process and understand traumatic events such as bereavement or the breakdown of a relationship (Pennebaker, 1990). Writing for wellbeing stems from this tradition.

Versatile

A key strength of writing for wellbeing’s ability to foster wellbeing lies in its versatility, a quality that means it can democratise access to wellbeing. Anyone can take part in a therapeutic writing. It’s also a discipline that embraces varied forms of writing by allowing us to experiment and have fun with with ideas of what writing is, and who is a writer.

This includes collaborating and working with community groups, the elderly, children, people living with disabilities and conditions including dementia and memory loss, people who have experienced violence or domestic abuse, and those who want to have fun and explore their own creativity. The list can stretch as far as our imaginations will allow it to.

References

• Cacioppo, J. T. and Patrick, W. (2008). Loneliness. W. W. Norton; New York and London – p. 5. Citing J. S. House, K. R. Landis, and D. Umberson, “Social relationships and health,” Science 241 (1988): 540-545.

• Pennebaker, J. W. (1990). Opening Up: The Healing Power of Expressing Emotions. New York: Guilford Press.

• Ross, D. And Adams, K. (2016). Your Brain on Ink: A Workbook on Neuroplasticity and the Journal Ladder. Rowman & Littlefield, London.