The “Write” to Heal
By: Julie Ayn Discenza, Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist
Please note that this article was written by a licensed therapist and the therapeutic writing technique described for traumatic experiences should be used with the help and guidance of a licensed therapist.
As a therapist, I have found that writing is a surprisingly powerful tool in the therapeutic process. It can be essential to the proper healing of emotional wounds.
Think back to a wonderful memory. Bring up as many sensory details as possible, focusing on one sense at a time. Notice the colors, shapes, sizes, people, animals, plants. . . Focus on the noises in the environment. Is it silent? Is it filled with laughter? Focus on the physical elements now. Is it evening, sunny, cold. . .? Notice any scent or taste associated with this memory. Stay with the experience for five minutes and then write down exactly what you imagined in your mind to re-tell the memory. Draw a picture of it as well. Take note of your current state of mind and feelings. Do you feel calm, happy, at peace with life?
When evoking a wonderful memory, the body responds as if the memory is being experienced in the present moment. This mental re-experiencing of a pleasant memory has an amazingly soothing effect on the central nervous system. Like pleasant memories, other non-traumatic memories are accessible because the cognitive, sensory, and emotional components are integrated into one whole story.
Therapists utilize patients’ pleasant memories to strengthen positive, neural networks in the brain. The access of these neural networks stimulates the parasympathetic nervous system, which induces the hard wired, often dormant, relaxation response. By intentionally inducing the relaxation response, the brain begins to re-wire its pathways, laying a new foundation for healing. Writing is one way to recall, savor, and relish memories for therapeutic growth.
Writing is also utilized to help one process traumatic memories. Traumatic memories usually do not have a complete narrative. With traumatic memories, the brain will only remember that which the mind can cognitively understand and has the ego strength for which to cope. For example, a pre-verbal child who experiences a traumatic event may later grow up to have unexplained somatic or sensory experiences or triggers. This is the body’s way of remembering the trauma. This is called body, or cell memory.
The effects of trauma are unique to the individual make-up and circumstance of the individual. It is partly determined by the severity, quantity, type, and duration of the traumatic events, coupled with individual temperament, coping skills, and external and internal resources. This exemplifies why some people develop Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) and others do not.
Without neural integration, traumatic memories may become “locked” in the nervous system as sensations, emotions, or flashes of images from parts of the memory. These fragments may be very distressing, resulting in maladaptive coping skills, which aim to circumvent the triggering sensations and emotions. Unfortunately, to avoid the unpleasant sensations and emotions, one must avoid all emotions and sensations. Feeling alive and whole is greatly diminished. Writing can be the “key to unlocking” the scars of emotional trauma.
I often use writing with my clients to begin the desensitization process of trauma with a gradual exposure to disturbing material. This entails asking a client to write an abstract essay on the effects and the meaning they make of the trauma. Once this is explored and revisited as many times as necessary to desensitize its impact, I move on to the sensory and emotional details of fragments of the traumatic memory. Clients write short, movie clip like narratives of segments of the memory and re-read these segments, again and again, as many times as necessary to desensitize them. This procedure continues until all fragments of a memory are desensitized. Once each piece is desensitized, clients write the memory in an entire story and read it until its distressing impact is 100 percent diminished.
Once the memory is desensitized, a new narrative with themes of courage, personal power, choice, and safety is written. This new story is “installed” in the brain and strengthened to allow the client to experience and activate new neuropathways of hope, resourcefulness, and empowerment.
Narratives or “stories,” with a beginning, a middle, and an ending are necessary for the adaptive processing of traumatic memories. The “re-telling,” or cognitive component of an experience promotes neural integration.
Writing entails language processing, creativity, and coordination (fine motor skills). It utilizes both hemispheres of the brain which is necessary for the integration of cognitions, bodily sensations, emotions, and, thus, experiences. This integration process is essential for the healing of trauma and emotional wounds. When emotional experiences are labeled and written, activation in the Amygdala (the part of the brain involved in fight or flight, anger, fear. . .) is decreased and activation in the Right Ventrolateral Pre-Frontal Cortex (the part of the brain involved in the processing of emotion and reappraisal skills) is increased.
The following simplified, example illustrates the neural integration of a traumatic memory.
A five-year-old child fell off a bike and runs to Mom crying uncontrollably with a bloody, painful knee. Mom picks up the child to soothe and comfort, and asks, “What happened?” The child says, “I was riding my bike on the sidewalk, and then I saw a ladybug. I tried to catch it and then I crashed into the tree. My knee is burning Mommy, I am scared.” Mom continues to comfort the child and says, “Wow, that must have been really scary for you. Of course, your knee is burning, you fell hard on that sidewalk, that is very painful. Let’s clean up that knee.”
This process of allowing the child to narrate his experience to an attentive audience empowers the child and allows him to integrate his feelings with the events of the experience. If the mom had “supermom” status, she might even ask the child to draw the story as she wrote it.
This experience would have much different results if the child were not able to tell the whole story and have an attuned adult mirror back the emotions and physical sensations attached to the child’s narrative.
Painful life experiences can remain locked in one’s nervous system for a lifetime. The themes or “stories” of these experiences may be overtly prominent as depicted in rigid, robotic, or compulsive behavioral patterns or thoughts; or, they may be invisible to the outside observer and somatic to the experiencer- masquerading as unexplained bodily sensations or pains. Without exploration, integration, and new behavioral activation, these fragmented “stories” adversely affect the lives of individuals in the form of chronic depression, phobic anxiety, and all of the other symptoms of PTSD.
Writing is a powerful way to gradually uncover and rewrite a painful experience. Through writing, you can change your past—you have the “write” to heal.
Julie Ayn Discenza M.Ed., M.S., LMFT ©2018
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Julie Ayn Discenza, M.Ed., M.S., is a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist (# 92632) with over 18 years of experience in the field of education and school counseling. Prior to becoming a therapist, Julie taught at the elementary and college level; school counseled at the elementary, middle, and high school level; and worked as a College Disabilities Coordinator.
Julie works in her private practice, JD Family Counseling, and part-time at Loma Linda Behavioral Medicine Center.
To learn more about the professional services Julie offers, please visit her website at www.jdfamilycounseling.com.
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