They Asked 100 People About Christian Counselors. One Answer Stood Out

There's a traditional school of thought that says we need a therapist, counselor or coach to help us work through difficult situations, painful experiences, and negative emotions. Without another living person acting as a sounding board, confidante or adviser, this school of thought suggests, we will never be able to get out of the minefield that our negative thoughts, feelings and memories often are.

Is this true? Apparently not. We need to expand our thinking about what we really need when we are processing painful experiences and negative emotions. The presence of a therapist or coach may not be necessary.

Individuals who process negative life experiences through writing or talking about them (not necessarily with a therapist or coach) describe long-term improved life satisfaction, mental well being as well as physical health. The actions of writing and talking offer a conduit which leads to the release of painful experiences and feelings.

Going Listed here's what studies at the University of California and Duke University Medical Center and also the Clinical Psychology Review have to say about what we really need as we are working through painful experiences and negative emotions:

Writing and talking require organisation and structure, which allow people to let go and move past their problems

For individuals affected by minor psychological complaints, writing therapy and self-talk therapy (for example talking into a tape recorder) produces positive changes comparable to those produced by short-term psychotherapy.

The positive effects of writing and self-talk therapy include decreased visits to doctors, decreased job absenteeism; and increased coping strategies and improved physical conditions including immune function

It's not only the writing and speaking about life events that seems to make the main difference - it really is the self-reflection on the feelings and also the insights that seems to make the shift: what are my feelings affiliated with this event and what do I now understand or realise about it? Writing and talking about those elements provides a structure and organisation to troubling events that can lead to a self-identified solution. - Clinical Psychology Review

Writing is tremendously cost effective, allows people to confront traumas and problems at their very own rate, and encourages them to devise their very own meaning and answers to their problems. Many people, perhaps most, are able to guide their own therapy