 A lot of the people I work with start writing and they see amazing changes in their mental and emotional state. But why is that? Stay tuned as we dive into that topic and stay tuned until the end of the video because I have an exciting announcement. What's up everybody this is Chris from the Rewired Soul where we talk about the problem but focus on the solution. Today we're going to be talking about the therapeutic value of writing. So me personally I've just always naturally been a writer I didn't really discover this until my first and only semester of college. But yeah I've just always been a natural writer and it's always been very therapeutic to me but now there's a lot of research that backs it up and through my clients experiences of the drug and alcohol rehab I work at I see it happening before my eyes all the time. So let me introduce you to this guy that is Dr. James Pennebaker alright. He is a psychologist and he's done a lot of research about writing and the therapeutic value behind it. So first they took two groups. One group was tasked with writing every day for about 15 minutes and the other group did not. And what they did was they took their blood samples and also measured their emotional and mental states. What they found was after two weeks the people who had been writing not only did they have increased white blood cell count so they were less likely to get sick but they also saw decreases in anxiety and depression. So Dr. James Pennebaker did some more research on this and he wanted to figure out what it was about the writing that was actually so therapeutic. Now one of the key things to this is that you have to use personal pronouns when writing that's when people saw the greatest effects. So personal pronouns and the first person things like I, me, my things of that nature. One of the reasons this is so therapeutic is because it is such an emotional release. So the way I kind of explain it to my clients is that inside of our heads if you struggle with mental illness this is our worst enemy and it's almost like when you're like in your car with the windows rolled up and a fly is just going all crazy all over the place. That is your crazy thoughts whether it's anxious thoughts, worries about the future or regrets from the past and your mind won't stop racing or it could be depression it could be those negative thoughts about either the future or negative self-talk or lack of motivation all those things that run through your head but this is also very effective for anybody who has struggled with trauma. They did a lot of research about this when it came to trauma victims whether it was physical, sexual abuse, also war veterans they had them start writing and they saw this massive decrease in anxious thoughts as well as depression. For some people it's easier for them to verbalize it but for other people especially those who don't like opening up to others writing is the best way that you can do this and I'm telling you I have worked with hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of clients who I tell them from day one I'm like you all get a journal write in it write in it write in it and they come up to me the next day like they just found like the fountain of youth. I'm like oh my god Chris like I did not realize it would work this well and a lot of people just have the same experience you start to get clarity and you start to release all these thoughts in your head what I want to make very clear too is that it doesn't have to be perfect writing like most of the time nobody's ever even going to read it so don't worry about spelling or grammar or anything like that like people are basically just free writing there are times when I'm just going nuts and I'm more of a typer than a writer because my writing is pretty sloppy but sometimes I will just open up a word document and just start free writing and just getting all those emotions and thoughts out they help immensely so now for the exciting news November is national novel writing month and what we have done myself and a few of the other creators we have made a Facebook group that I want you to join now there's a few things about this everybody has a story to share a lot of people have been wanting to write something but haven't and this is a group that we made to support one another as well as have personal accountability for example just writing a thousand words a day to work on this thing so if you're interested in that check the description below because I have a link to our Facebook group so come join us but as I mentioned in this video the therapeutic value of writing is just amazing so I will also extend this offer to you if you just want to do 10 to 15 minutes of writing a day just a place where you can come talk about that therapeutic value and also just a place where you're held accountable and you can help support others who are doing this as well so this is my challenge to you during the month of November right every day for 10 to 15 minutes and the best way that you can do this is by developing a schedule whether it's every morning before you get ready and go to work or to school or wherever it is or in the evenings at the end of your day just 10 to 15 minutes free writing so make sure you check out our Facebook group that's in the link in the description below if you like this video give it a thumbs up but I also want to slip in a question of the day have you started journaling have you ever written your thoughts down before and how has it helped you leave your comments down below if you're new here thanks for watching make sure you hit the little round subscribe button I'm always making videos to help you improve your mental health and I do videos about addiction and mental illness and to the left of me you can check out some of my other awesome videos on this channel so thanks again for watching and I'll see you next time