There are many ways to process trauma. The most effective is counseling, where a person sees a professional and talks through the events slowly and comfortably for the patient. A therapist can use several therapy strategies to help a client not only cope with the trauma but also resolve it so that it’s no longer weighing them down.
However, for people who don’t have the finances to go to therapy, or even if they don’t like the stigma of going to treatment, there is something they can do to help them still process their traumatic events. Journaling is a great way to get their thoughts and feelings out productively. This allows them not only to process the event as it replays in their mind but also to control how comfortable they feel as they visit the trauma. Here are some reasons why journaling is a way to process trauma:
They Can Be Sincere
Talking with a therapist can be scary. It often takes many sessions for therapists and clients to establish trust together. However, a person doesn’t need to trust the pages of a journal to be brutally honest. A person who knows that no one will read their work can be as graphic as possible as they replay certain events in their mind. It is also cathartic to write the events down on paper.
The mind has a way of processing the emotions that accompany that trauma. These emotions are things that people often stuff because they’re too painful to deal with. However, when someone processes trauma through the pages of a journal, they are more likely to feel the emotions and be able to express them on paper. That immediate expression of negative emotions like anger, bitterness, or rage will help with processing and resolving them more quickly than attending many sessions with a therapist.
It Keeps Them Focused
When someone takes a pen to paper, it uses a different part of the brain than if someone were merely talking about the events. If someone is writing something down, it helps keep them focused. For example, if they are writing about the traumatic event itself, it helps keep the mind focused on replaying each scene as they recall it. They will also be able to play the emotions and the results of that scene before moving on to the next.
When someone talks about something, the mind can often become scattered and jump from event to event. Keeping focus is essential so that all difficult emotions are addressed. It is vital for a person willing to go through the actual process of the trauma to deal with the complex emotions as they occur.
It would be too tempting for a person to put the journal down, go about their day, and try to stuff those emotions again. Because they have experienced the pain those emotions produced, it will be less likely that they will want to pick up the journal and continue again.
Write a Letter to the Offender
They can also use the journal as a letter to the offender. A person who has been traumatized by an event most often has not dealt directly with the person who has caused the trauma. People usually keep those things to themselves and never deal directly with the person who caused them pain.
However, using the journal as a letter, they can write everything they’ve ever wanted to say to the offender without having them see it or respond to it. This is an excellent way for them to be able to process their pain and say whatever negative thing they need to say. They can use inappropriate words, be graphic with the content, and recall the events as they occur. Because they are not dealing with someone directly, they don’t need the listener’s feedback telling them they were wrong or making them second-guess their recollection.
Additionally, once the person is done writing in the letter, everything they need to say to the offender, they can symbolically throw away the journal. This not only protects them from a family member or a loved one from seeing their letter, but also lets them process the pain and symbolically let it go by throwing it in the trash. This is their symbol that they are willing to move on and move forward in the future.
Journaling is essential for processing regular and traumatic emotions. Taking the time to journal about a traumatic event will benefit you and help you move forward.
Written by Michelle S. Lazurek
This is an updated edition of a post originally published on Christian Grandfather Magazine
Featured Image by fotografierende from Pixabay
