Writing poems can be a great stress buster
POSTED February 17, 2009 - 20:29 | POSTED BY Neelam Goswami
Last edited by Shikha Patial on February 17, 2009 - 21:54
Los Angeles, February 17: A research team at the University of California, Los Angeles has found that putting feelings into words can ease stress, as it helps brain change the way to deal with anxiety, fear, negative emotions and sadness.
According to latest research, keeping a diary or writing things down has cathartic effects because it restricts parts of the brain that trigger emotional turmoil, and increases activity in the region linked to self-control, thus bringing peace of mind and relieving stress.
The novel research, carried out by Dr Matthew Lieberman, a neuroscientist at the University of California, and his colleagues, indicates why some people write diary, compose poems or write down their personal experiences.
"It seems to regulate our distress," said Dr. Lieberman. "I don't think that people sit down in order to regulate their emotions but there is a benefit.”
"I think it could play a role in why many people write diaries or write bad lyrics to songs - the kind that should never be played on the radio," he added.
To prove the therapeutic power of writing, Dr. Lieberman and colleagues scanned the brains of 30 individuals while they were describing distressing pictures in words.
They found that the act of writing reduced the activity in the amygala, a part of the brain that stores emotionally charged events and fear in our unconscious memory, and stimulated the activity in the pre-frontal cortex, the anterior part of the frontal lobes of the brain that regulates mind.
"When you put feelings into words, you are turning on the same regions in the brain that are involved in emotional self-control," Dr. Lieberman explained.
The researchers found that the act of writing about an emotion brought peace of mind and restored mental balance.
"If you ask people then they don't think that it serves an emotion regulation but when you look at the brain that looks like what is going on," he added. "The more frontal activity we see, the less amydala response. There seems to be a see-saw affect."
The study authors hope their findings could help develop new forms of therapy for fears and social phobias.
Dr. Lieberman outlined his findings at the American Association for the Advancement of Science in a lecture called Putting Feelings Into Words.
