Reddit reviews Opening Up by Writing It Down, Third Edition: How Expressive Writing Improves Health and Eases Emotional Pain

I am responding to this because writing is part of my healing toolbox, and something I've found immensely helpful.

First, there is a difference between writing and sharing your writing. The first can be healing, if (as you seem to imply) is a medium that feels safe. The second could be very triggering, and even retraumatizing if done with the wrong people.

I have used writing a lot in my therapy work for the past year or so. My first trauma history was given to a T as a written document. What I could not say, I could write.
I now have permission to email my current T, a privilege I try not to abuse. In sessions I share journals, or dream journals or printouts with her, these written words are often the starting point of our sessions.

But even if writing is healing for you, there are some precautions you need to take. Here are my favorite ones:

1. Make sure writing is not obsessive, that it doesn't seep into time you must devote to other tasks (your job/studies/personal self-care/chores), because then it's not helpful, it's just more trauma re-enactment. Timing yourself and setting a time aside is a good way to do that. Also, writing is amazing, but it's no substitute for interacting with others face to face (if you are able or even interested in doing that), for doing physical activity, or mindfulness.
   
2. Make sure you don't overwhelm yourself with traumatic memories. The 20 minute limit that some recommend (Pennebaker, for instance) does a good job at doing this. Take days off from writing too.
   
3. Write in a way that is more than venting. Try to use writing to explore your feelings, the implications or thought process behind your reactions. Then it can become really an avenue for personal growth. (That's why, and I really mean no judgment in saying this, but I personally don't find most raisedby subs very helpful for me at this point in my recovery. They were more helpful initially as I was learning to call abuse with its proper name, but now, I need to move beyond the venting).
   
4. As healing as writing can be, it's no replacement for therapy. You can achieve tremendous insights in writing, but the right therapist will help you turn those insights into permanent cognitive change. Also, writing addresses the verbal and the emotional levels of trauma but does little to address the somatic one, and trauma is often stored in the body.
   
   Lastly, here's a book I found very helpful:
   
   https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01GK5817W/
   
   Good luck!

My therapist recommended that I start writing for 15 minutes a day about whatever is in my head. There's a book about the process if you're interested, but I haven't read it yet. I've been doing it for two weeks and I've had a marked reduction in both suicidal ideation and psychotic thoughts/hallucinations. I've found writing by hand is better than typing, and it works best when I write with no specific purpose - just without interruptions for 15 minutes. I've started shredding them after I finish so I don't have to worry about someone finding them. I don't know if it would work for you, but I would recommend giving it a shot.

For me it wasn't. The format was too annoying to bother with on a website I couldn't see myself ever wanting to return to.

I bought and read the book he based the concept on and have been journaling using some of its ideas ever since. That's been extremely useful.

Reading the research and data in the book was a huge motivator for me too.