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Opening Up: The Healing Power of Expressing Emotions
Anyone who has ever entrusted a troubling secret to a journal, or mourned a broken heart with a friend, knows the feeling of relief that expressing painful emotions can bring. This book presents astonishing evidence that personal self-disclosure is not only good for our emotional health, but boosts our physical health as well.
Psychologist James W. Pennebaker has conducted...more
Psychologist James W. Pennebaker has conducted...more
Paperback, 249 pages
Published
August 8th 1997
by The Guilford Press
(first published 1990)
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James W. Pennebaker, Ph.D., in his book, Opening Up, The Healing Power of Expressing Emotion, describes a study of unemployed men. The men who wrote about losing their jobs found new jobs much more quickly than the two control groups. Writing helped them vent anger, hurt and pain about their job loss. It enabled them to let go of painful experiences, and this in turn, helped them be effective in finding employment.
As a clinical social worker I know writing is helpful, Writing will help with any...more
As a clinical social worker I know writing is helpful, Writing will help with any...more
Aug 06, 2011
Mary Alice
rated it
4 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
dissertation-reading
Thoughtful explanations of studies Pennebaker conducted concerning confiding in others and expressing those thougts through writing.
Perhaps it was all the hype, but I was disappointed by this book. The research he cites is interesting, but it raised as many questions as it answered. I agree that for some of us, journaling is a healing and useful tool, but there are so many variables that were not explored that I thought the analysis and conclusions were facile and unconvincing.
I have encouraged a lot of supervisees to read this over the years and so thought I finally should. It's a good book to read if you work with trauma survivors, since it validates the importance of revealing your thoughts and feelings about difficult life experiences.
I'm not generally a self-help type person, but the author did provide some good information. This book is a result of his own studies on this subject. While I wanted to disagree with some of his conclusions, he did have the data to back up his claims. The book did lose steam on the last 1/3 of the book. How many times can you say that same thing over and over again?
I continue to be interested in journaling and the benefits of it. Pennebaker is a pioneer in this field, and I enjoyed reading about the roots of his research.
Jan 11, 2009
Alison
marked it as to-read
This was a recommendation from my new trauma hero, Bessel van der Kolk, at his training "New Frontiers in Trauma Treatment". This is not a new book, but highlighted as a useful book that espouses the benefits of writing/narrative therapy.
Better tuned for someone who's a regular, non-writing Joe. Who might be the equivalent of someone looking for a shaman.
great inspiration for inspiring writers and new writers alike: capturing the health aspects of writing
The author was recommended in a class I took.... I was surprised what an easy read it was
Changed my life :)
Jan 17, 2008
Eri
rated it
5 of 5 stars
Recommends it for:
cure illness as part of healing methods:)
Shelves:
self-help
Try experiment yourself by writing down anything that emerge from your mind, heart and soul during your hard times, sadness, dissapointment, heart break, down hearted...
Writing is the best therapy - as James' experiments have proved them - 'coz I did it too as part of healing my tumour in 2006-2007. Released all the stress, worries, wondering mind, doubtfulness, and many more.
To cure illness by expressing yourself in writing is the best treatment.
Writing is the best therapy - as James' experiments have proved them - 'coz I did it too as part of healing my tumour in 2006-2007. Released all the stress, worries, wondering mind, doubtfulness, and many more.
To cure illness by expressing yourself in writing is the best treatment.
A great book of Pennebaker's original research on the effects of expressive writing on health outcomes, a subject near and dear to my heart.
A great book on the benefits of writing. He describes his experiment that show the benefits of writing about traumatic events for different circumstances: a traumatic event in the past, a secret that one cannot share with others, a natural disaster that crossed one's life. Written in a very engaging way. I'll read more.
TOO GOOD. Integrated a lot of what I had been thinking about health, writing, teaching, language, and healing... A surprisingly easy read for a psychology book!
Great book! About the healing power of expressing emotions..good complimentary testimony to journal writing
May 16, 2013
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