Expressive Writing

The most studied method is expressive writing: write continuously for 15-20 minutes about your deepest feelings around a significant experience. No grammar concerns. No one reads it.

Brain imaging confirms this boosts prefrontal cortex activity — the seat of emotional regulation — while dampening the amygdala. The mechanism is cognitive reappraisal: a written narrative helps you reinterpret events. Writing reorganizes chaotic experience into structured meaning.