Here’s another study which shows the health benefits of writing about your experience. We all use narrative to make sense of our lives, so you’ll understand that writing about our experiences can help us to do just that – to makes sense of our experience. However, more than that, narrative is a creative, expressive act. It’s a way of affirming our existence, connecting to others and of growing. It helps us to develop.
In this study 71 patients with cancer were asked to write about “How has cancer changed you, and how do you feel about those changes?”
After the writing assignment, about half of the cancer patients said the exercise had changed their thinking about their illness, while 35 percent reported that writing changed the way they felt about their illness. Three weeks after the writing exercise, the effect had been maintained. Writing had the biggest impact on patients who were younger and recently diagnosed.
Changing how you think and how you feel changes your everyday experience so it’s no surprise these respondents reported improvements in the quality of their lives.
It’s interesting to note how important it is to write about feelings to get the good effect –
“Thoughts and feelings, or the cognitive processing and emotions related to cancer, are key writing elements associated with health benefits,’’ said Nancy P. Morgan, director of the center’s Arts and Humanities Program. “Writing about only the facts has shown no benefit.”
One final point worth noting is that whilst, as you may have expected, many wrote that the experience of cancer had been life-changing, perhaps what is more surprising is that many made statements about the gains which they had obtained from the cancer experience.
One patient wrote: “Don’t get me wrong, cancer isn’t a gift, it just showed me what the gifts in my life are.”
Heroes Not Zombies 
I know this intuitively. One of the reasons that I teach writing – and one of the first things I tell my students – is that it can be an incredibly powerful act. They don’t believe me at first, but then one or two of them will have the experience of realizing something profound in their writing (I often share that I don’t really know WHAT I think about a thing until I start writing about it) and they’ll really understand how important it is to be able to get ideas and experiences down on paper.
I’m not sure I’ve made any converts this semester, though, which makes me a little sad…
Writing in this way is a process that is a lot slower than the speed at which many people fly through their days. It allows time to see life differently, more insightfully. It helps us see ourselves and our experiences as a person instead of seeing ourselves as a disease or as a recovery process. It is one reason I started my blog last week.
I have found myself more in music and writing than I have science, and it helped me be a better doctor.
Dr. B
[…] in teaching mathematics Posted on 28 February 2008 by Phil Wilson Bob has yet another fascinating post over at Heroes Not Zombies, this time explaining how writing about their experience of the disease […]
Thank you for sharing these findings.
I am a total fan of writing, and I love helping people to wake up to the power of their own words.
I know this is partly borne out of personal experience. Writing saw me through depression, and is continuing to help me shape and create a fulfilling, meaningful life.
Joanna
You sound a great teacher mrschili, I’m sure you’ll inspire your students. The ones who convert are going to be so happy they did!
Good luck with your blog spaceagesage. My blog is almost a whole year old and it’s the best thing I’ve ever done for my creativity. Can’t imagine living without it now! About slowing down…..I find writing with a pen does that for me much more than writing on my mac, but I love to do both.
I like that phrase, Dr B. Did you mean it that way? That you FOUND yourself in music and writing? I hope you did! If feel very alive in music and writing….oh, and I’d add….in stories. I just love stories. Especially the unique ones every patient tells me.
Joanna, check out my post on Kearney’s book “On Stories”, he’s very clear about how stories are our way of creating fulfilling meaningful lives.
https://heroesnotzombies.wordpress.com/2008/01/30/the-importance-of-story/