Submitted a chapter on expressive writing to Nova Science, New York, NY in the upcoming book Understanding Test Anxiety: Causes, Effects, and Interventions

Continuing the discussion on expressive writing from the previous page, what happens when the trauma becomes severe? To answer that question, expressive writing becomes an extension of dealing with a practical problem mentioned in my post Why Do I Write.

Suppose you did not deal with it immediately. Then the problem can advance to the next stage. It may induce an adverse mood. For example, the inability to finish your novel can induce grief. You are not just depressed. In most cases of depression, you do not know why you feel that way; but here you attribute it to your inability to achieve your goal.

It is not purely a psychological problem. There is also a practical component. You have to deal with the practical issue first. If you treated your mood first, the practical problem can still induce a relapse. That is why you don’t bother to seek a psychologist.

Expressive writing can still be helpful in such unique cases if you take advantage of its cathartic effect to come up with strategies to deal with the practical side of the problem. You could not do that before because of the inhibition produced by the trauma (your failure). It prevented the possibility of coming up with a solution because it would have resided outside the area where you were restricted from exploring. The broadening of your perspective due to the alleviation of the restriction imposed on you allows for the implementation of a coping strategy.