[Final] Reader Response

Parker-Pope (2015) mentions in her article “Writing Your Way to Happiness” that writing down thoughts and problems (in expressive writing) improves physical and mental health. It can change people's perception of life positively which makes them happier. Parker-Pope quotes a study performed on 40 Duke University freshmen which demonstrated that those who engage in expressive writing achieved better results and is less likely to quit college. Also, expressive writing allows people to identify problems and tackle them. The author cites a story of Siri, a client at the Johnson & Johnson Human Performance Institute, who discovered the actual cause of her failure in achieving her fitness goal. The author’s claim that expressive writing enables people to identify problems and tackle them is justified because writing down will allow people to eliminate their emotional distress, which can guide them to concentrate on the appropriate solutions to their problems and change their perceptions of these problems that will enable them to be more objective and optimistic.

Another positive aspect of expressive writing is its ability to allow people to convey their thoughts and feelings that are disturbed by the problems they face in their daily lives. Often, when people are burdened with problems, they tend to hide those problems, which may lead to emotional instabilities (“In brief”, 2013). Park et al. (cited in Power, 2014), demonstrated how “Writing can also alleviate students' anxiety about mathematics”. Students who often had performed badly in mathematics due to the high anxiety they had on mathematics had to write down their feelings before sitting for the following mathematics test. The experiment demonstrated that students who expressed their anxiety on the paper performed as well as their peers who were not anxious before the test and some even outdid their peers. Writing down their feelings could have made the anxious students’ minds free from the anxiousness they had earlier on, allowing them to completely focus on solving the mathematical problems in front of them. The unnecessary stress may slow down people’s minds, which will deter them from concentrating on finding the solutions to their problems (Bressert, 2006). They will be calmer after writing down their problems and will be physically and emotionally ready to face their problems.

Writing down problems and thoughts can positively change people's perceptions of the problems they face. Problems are commonly connoted as negative. Negative feelings will be relieved as people write their problems down. Klowsowski (2014) mentioned a quote by a “Mr Wilson,” which goes, “Some researchers have developed a method where they say, if something is nagging at us, write about it in the third person so we can look at it as objectively as we can as opposed to immersing ourselves in a negative experience.” People will steer away from their original perceptions and view their problems positively. For instance, problems will then be seen as a challenge to help them improve themselves instead of being viewed as a burden. Also, a study by Lyubomirsky et al. (2005) has shown that those who often reflect on their lives were more positive and motivated in their lives. Optimism gives people the strength to tackle their problems and obstacles easily (Sasson, n.d.). The tendency to avoid problems will reduce as people see their problems from a wider perspective. In this case, expressive writing manifests the role of exploring people’s point of view to help them overcome their problems with an optimistic attitude.

In conclusion, expressive writing helps to eliminate the stress that can affect people’s concentration while trying to solve their problems. People’s minds can become free of unnecessary worries and their calm state will enable them to come up with useful solutions to their problems. On top of that, expressive writing may change people’s perceptions of the problems they face making them more objective in looking at their problems as well as more optimistic when encountering problems.

References

Bressert, S. (2006). The impact of stress. Psych Central [Web log post].  Retrieved on February 17, 2015, from http://psychcentral.com/lib/the-impact-of-stress/000104

Psychological Care & Healing Treatment Centre. (2013). Emotional dysregulation [Web log post]. Retrieved from http://www.pchtreatment.com/emotional-dysregulation/

Klosowski, T (2014, June 20). Recalibrate your reality [Web log post]. Retrieved from http://lifehacker.com/5891564/recalibrate-your-reality

Lyubomirsky, S., Sheldon,KM., Schkade, D. (June, 2005). Pursuing happiness: The architecture of sustainable change. Review of General Psychology, 9(2), 111-131.

Park, D., Ramirez, G. & Beilock, S. (2014). The role of expressive writing in math anxiety. Journal of Experimental Psychology, 20(2), 103-111.

Parker-Pope, T. (2015, January 19). Writing your way to happiness. [Web log post] Retrieved from http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2015/01/19/writing-your-way-to-happiness/?hpw&rref=health&action=click&pgtype=Homepage&module=well-region&region=bottom-well&WT.nav=bottom-well&_r=0

Powers, S.K. (2014, August 7). What writing does? [Web log post]. Retrieved from http://www.scottkpowers.com/2014/08/what-writing-does.html

Sasson, R. (n.d.). The power of positive attitude can change your life. Success Consciousness. [Web log post]. Retrieved from http://www.successconsciousness.com/positive_attitude.htm