Therapeutic Writing (Expressive Writing)

Therapeutic writing is one of the best-documented brief psychological interventions: Pennebaker's signature protocol consists of writing for twenty minutes over four consecutive days about the most upsetting event of one's life, without formal constraint, exploring facts, emotions and meanings. Its first principle is that of active inhibition as a psychophysiological burden: failing to put a charged experience into words would maintain a deleterious chronic autonomic activation. Standardizable and measurable, the method cuts across all nosographic categories (oncology, bereavement, addiction, geriatrics, prison settings). It extends earlier traditions such as Ira Progoff's intensive journal.

This therapy is covered in detail (principles, indications, protocol, level of evidence) in Volume 6 of the Mémento des Psychothérapies. See the volume.