Writing Heals: Write to Help Heal Your Wounds

Writing is one of the most effective ways to let go of stress and get some order back into your life when you need it most. Discover how writing heals!
Writing Heals: Write to Help Heal Your Wounds

Last update: 15 December, 2022

Writing heals you by helping you express what’s going on inside: the pain, disappointment, sadness, grief, etc. While we know it’s just a piece of paper and a pencil, it’s liberating. Has this ever happened to you too? Is writing the way you vent?

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Writing about Your Feelings

Illustration of woman drawing with a giant pencil writing heals

Pretty much everybody needs to vent at some point. We all need to say what we’re feeling and talk about what is going on. However, talking isn’t the same as writing.

When you begin filling up that notebook with the thoughts in your head, things start making sense.

When you’re not doing well and the world is closing in on you, it feels impossible to get out of it. You may be flooded with emotions and it may seem like there’s no escape.

Writing doesn’t just help you put these terrible feelings on paper. It also helps you organize them and make sense out of them in a way you never thought possible.

Let’s say, for example, you’re going through a very tough time in your love life. You don’t understand what’s happening. You lose hope and you end up full of anxiety and doubt.

What’s wrong with me? What’s going on?

Write.

Illustration of woman reading in bed with light writing heals

Once you get the words on paper, read them over again as many times as you need to. You’ll be surprised by what’s really happening.

You may discover that you’ve become emotionally dependent. Additionally, perhaps you’re accepting a situation that you really don’t like, or that you’re with someone you don’t actually want to be with.

These written thoughts will shine a light on the raw reality. However, you’ll manage to find a way back to peace because of them.

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Writing Heals by Speeding Up Emotional Recovery

Every negative experience leaves a deep wound. The longer you ignore it, the bigger it gets.

That’s why it’s so important to write. That’s how you realize what’s really going on.

It doesn’t matter whether your problem is like the one we described above. It could be that you’re in pain because of the death of a loved one, getting fired from your job, or an argument. However, all of these situations deserve the freedom you’ll get through words.

Writing will not only let you see what’s happening more clearly but will also speed up the healing process. When you write, you let tension, stress, and anxiety free.

Illustration of woman butterflies book

Many people aren’t able to write good stories or create deep poems if they don’t keep their emotions close to the surface.

After all, everything flows better with emotions. Words bubble out easily since it’s not reason that’s speaking, it’s feelings. They need to be expressed one way or another.

Write Expressively

If you’ve put writing into practice but haven’t seen good results, it may be because you’re not writing expressively.

Many people think too much when they write. They try to create coherent sentences and explain everything.

That’s not how it goes with therapeutic writing. Therapeutic writing expressively means capturing everything that’s going through your mind just as it is. You shouldn’t add anything or try to organize anything. Just let the chaos out. Additionally, the experience will be more cathartic this way.

It doesn’t matter if what you write makes no sense at all. It will later when you revisit your words. That’s when you’ll understand what’s really happening.

If you still can’t figure out what it means, let your writing sit for a few days and then come back to it. After giving it time and space, you’ll be able to see things from another perspective.

Writing heals because it is one of the most effective ways to let go of stress and get some order back into your life when you need it most.


All cited sources were thoroughly reviewed by our team to ensure their quality, reliability, currency, and validity. The bibliography of this article was considered reliable and of academic or scientific accuracy.


  • Moraña, M., & Sánchez Prado, I. M. (2012). El lenguaje de las emociones. Afecto y cultura en América Latina.
  • Frédérique, L. (2013). Escribir la Historia del tiempo presente o el imperio de las emociones. Páginas (Rosario).
  • Osho. (2015). Emociones. The Effects of Brief Mindfulness Intervention on Acute Pain Experience: An Examination of Individual Difference. https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9781107415324.004
  • Vivas, M., González, B., & Gallego, D. (2009). Educar las emociones. Crítica. https://doi.org/http://www.escoltesiguies.cat/files/u21417/libro_educar_emociones.pdf
  • Belli, S. (2010). Emociones y Lenguaje. Athenea Digital. https://doi.org/10.1002/chem.200700216

This text is provided for informational purposes only and does not replace consultation with a professional. If in doubt, consult your specialist.