Draft 1- Reader Response

Parker-Pope (2015) mentions in her article “Writing Your Way to Happiness” that expressive writing improves physical and mental health. Expressive writing can change one’s perception of life positively and make them happier. Studies have proven that American students who engage in expressive writing achieve better results and are less likely to quit college. Also, expressive writing allows one to identify life obstacles and tackle them. For example, after Siri wrote down her thoughts, she realised that she disliked exercising and did not value her health enough instead of had no time to work on her fitness.

Parker-Pope suggests that writing and re-writing past experience allows individuals to reconstruct their perception of the world. This leads them to live a happier and healthier life. I found that the author’s arguments are logical and convincing. From a psychological perspective, mental health, physical health and cognition are interlinked, this supports the argument that expressive writing leads to better life.

Cognitive therapy is commonly used in treating psychological disorders like phobia and anorexia nervosa in mental health setting. Scientific researches prove that changing one’s cognition can influence his mental health to a great extent. Clark and colleagues (2005) conducted experiment to find out the effectiveness of cognitive therapy, they concluded that cognitive therapy has the most significant effect in treating phobia compared to other forms of treatment. Similarly, re-writing helps individuals to see life events in a totally different perspective, this changes their perceptions and cognitions. Hence, expressive writing improves their mental health and makes them happier.

The author argues that expressive writing “reduce symptoms among cancer patients, improve a person’s health after a heart attack, reduce doctor visits…” Indeed, mental health improves one’s physical health and vice versa. According to Grohol (2009), mental health and physical health are strongly connected to each other. For example, people who have anger management problems are at higher risks of getting heart arrhythmias compared to those without such problems. Individuals who engage in expressive writing change their negative views about the world, and become more mentally stable. This implies that they will have a better physical health due to their mental wellness.

However, it is too simplistic to say that those who identify their life obstacles through expressive writing will act upon them. For example, Siri found out that her true obstacles are dislike exercising and not valuing her fitness enough, may not necessary take action to change such behaviours. Therefore, expressive writing is not always an effective way to tackle life obstacles. Parker-Pope did not give sufficient evidence to show how behavioural changes will come about followed expressive writing. 

In conclusion, expressive writing can change one’s perception and cognition which leads to happier and healthier life. However, after engage in expressive writing, one may not necessary takes action to change his behaviour or tackle his problems. 

(475 words)

Reference:

Clark, D. M., Ehlers, A., Hackmann, A., McManus, F., Fennell, M., Grey, N., Waddington, L., Wild, J. (2006). Cognitive therapy versus exposure and applied relaxation in social phobia: A randomized controlled trial. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, Vol 74(3), 568-578

Grohol, J. (2009). The Connection Between Mental & Physical Health. Psych Central. Retrieved on February 9, 2015, from http://psychcentral.com/blog/archives/2009/02/25/the-connection-between-mental-physical-health/

Parker-Pope, T. (2015, January 19). Writing Your Way to Happiness. [Web log post] Retrieved from http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2015/01/19/writing-your-way-to-happiness/?hpw&rref=health&action=click&pgtype=Homepage&module=well-region&region=bottom-well&WT.nav=bottom-well&_r=0