Peer-Reviewed Journaling Protocol for Neuroplasticity + Mental Health

This week I've distilled Huberman's episode on a science-backed journaling method (200+ peer-reviewed studies) that's been shown to improve symptoms of anxiety, insomnia, mood, sleep, and immune function with just 4 sessions. 

 It's apparently not well known outside of psychology and therapy practitioners.

 It's a 15-30 minute practice done 4x times to illicit long-term benefits of neuroplasticity - rewiring stressful and traumatic events in the brain for greater understanding and peace, and reducing the physical negative effects from the event/stress.

All takeaways and protocols are databased & searchable on Human3 Wiki.

Overview

Journaling method w/ over 200 peer-reviewed studies, shown to improve mental + physical health

• Reductions in anxiety, insomnia, improvements in mood, sleep, immune functioning

• Leads to neuroplasticity, the literal rewiring of neural connections

• Creates coherent understanding of stressful events

• Can accelerate progression through talk therapy, depression, PTSD

• Meticulously developed by James Pennebaker, a professor of Psychology

The Method

Write for 15-30 minutes continuously about the most difficult or traumatic experience of your life.

Write about this same thing 4 times in total; can be done on consecutive days, or spread out i.e. once per week.

• If nothing traumatic, write about something you’re thinking or worrying about too much, major conflicts, or stressors

• Explore your deepest emotions and thoughts about an upsetting experience

• Connect the experience to your childhood, relationships, career, etc.

• Include facts about the difficult experience

• Include emotions felt at the time of the experience and emotions felt now

• Include any links that come to mind about the negative experience and anything happening now or planned for the future

• No one will see what you’ve written (except possibly your therapist/psychologist), can tear up the paper if you choose

This can be emotionally taxing: it’s normal to feel low, depressed, angry, or sad after writing

• Ensure you have a buffer or time after writing before moving on to other activities

• Avoid doing it right before going to sleep

If the writing protocol causes significant stress, stop

• Consider starting with a less stressful event before moving on to more traumatic ones 

After a week has passed, you can analyze words used

• Circle negative words and square positive words

• Check for increased coherence about the topic over time

• Typically, patterns of language use shift from the first to the fourth entry

• By the fourth entry, people use fewer negative words and more positive words, even when writing about the same negative experience

Why it Works

Traumas, addictions, compulsive behaviors, and negative habitual states are linked to a certain component of our nervous system being less engaged - the prefrontal cortex

• The prefrontal cortex is reduced in its overall levels of activity during stressful or traumatic experiences

• When people truthfully report an experience, activity in the prefrontal cortex increases and persists afterwards

• This repeated activation and neuroplasticity of the prefrontal cortex during truth telling creates a more coherent understanding of the stressful event

• This understanding can lead to reductions in anxiety, improvements in sleep, and reductions in insomnia