Oct 3, 2026 · 22 min · 11 segments
Journaling is often recommended — but what if writing things down sometimes keeps us stuck? In this episode, clinical psychologist Dr Kumari Valentine explores the difference between processing and…
Kumari ValentineHost
One of the best known researchers in this area is a psychologist, James Pennebaker, whose work I came across when I was doing my third year psychology project and I was looking at different ways of writing.
Beginning in the 1980s, Pennebaker and his colleagues looked at what happens when people write about really emotionally significant experiences.
This became known as the expressive writing paradigm, and people were invited to write about these emotional experiences.
usually for a relatively short period of time, 10 to 20 minutes, over several days.
And across his extensive body of research, expressive writing has been associated with improvements in psychological and in physical well-being.
Journaling isn't a magic treatment, and for anybody out there who feels they need expensive stationery or a reason to shop, pause before going on a shopping trip.
What I find interesting is what happened when Penn Baker and his colleagues looked at not just where the people wrote, but the language they used.
People who benefited from writing weren't necessarily the people who wrote the most.
And just the other day, somebody connected with us and reminded me of the phrase, we name them to tame them, right? About emotions.
What also helped was language that indicated people were beginning to make connections and develop an understanding, a really coherent understanding of their experiences.
And there was often a change in the language people used across their writing, which gave that important clue.
So writing isn't simply about getting the story onto the page, although I just want to say there is benefit to that too.
Many of us use our mind as a kind of jotting pad to keep track of things and we quickly become overwhelmed.
And in fact, short-term memory, the workbench of memory, can only hold seven plus or minus two items, right, at kind of optimal.
And we want to... put down things especially when we're people who when it's quieter might start rehearsing or trying to make a list of things we don't want to forget so journaling some while before bedtime and or a Journal beside you as you head to bed or as you're sleeping, sorry, has merit.
But for this episode, what I want to focus on is when people are journaling, no matter how brief and how to get the most out of it.
One of the best known researchers in this area is a psychologist, James Pennebaker, whose work I came across when I was doing my third year psychology project and I was looking at different ways of writing.
Beginning in the 1980s, Pennebaker and his colleagues looked at what happens when people write about really emotionally significant experiences.
This became known as the expressive writing paradigm, and people were invited to write about these emotional experiences.
usually for a relatively short period of time, 10 to 20 minutes, over several days.
And across his extensive body of research, expressive writing has been associated with improvements in psychological and in physical well-being.
Journaling isn't a magic treatment, and for anybody out there who feels they need expensive stationery or a reason to shop, pause before going on a shopping trip.
What I find interesting is what happened when Penn Baker and his colleagues looked at not just where the people wrote, but the language they used.
People who benefited from writing weren't necessarily the people who wrote the most.
And just the other day, somebody connected with us and reminded me of the phrase, we name them to tame them, right? About emotions.
What also helped was language that indicated people were beginning to make connections and develop an understanding, a really coherent understanding of their experiences.
And there was often a change in the language people used across their writing, which gave that important clue.
So writing isn't simply about getting the story onto the page, although I just want to say there is benefit to that too.
Many of us use our mind as a kind of jotting pad to keep track of things and we quickly become overwhelmed.
And in fact, short-term memory, the workbench of memory, can only hold seven plus or minus two items, right, at kind of optimal.
And we want to... put down things especially when we're people who when it's quieter might start rehearsing or trying to make a list of things we don't want to forget so journaling some while before bedtime and or a Journal beside you as you head to bed or as you're sleeping, sorry, has merit.
But for this episode, what I want to focus on is when people are journaling, no matter how brief and how to get the most out of it.
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