Expressive writing helps people emotionally. As a journaler and a therapist, I’ve witnessed this reality in many contexts and thanks to the line of research started by James Pennebaker, this fact is now documented in the terms of empirical science (Pennebaker, 1997; Smyth, 1998). The definitive statement about why this is true or exactly how it works will never be made because the ways writing about important experiences helps people emotionally are as varied as the people themselves. But modern brain science does provide some information to structure and expand our awareness of writing’s benefits. If we understand some about how the brain processes emotion, we see a concrete and clear logic behind writing as a tool of emotion management.

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