Release anxiety with automatic writing
Jessica was anxious and exhausted when she came to see me. She had never seen a psychologist before. A young mother of two children, she enjoyed her work and her children, and for the most part felt that she had a good life.
But at night she would wake up with her heart pounding and toss and turn. Sometimes she was on the verge of panic for what seemed like hours. She was losing sleep and feeling irritable with her family.
When we started, she felt overwhelmed, out of control. But after she started making some behavior changes (more exercise, some meditation), I taught her automatic writing. She soon was controlling her anxiety and her sleepiness on her own.
With automatic writing, your brain and body can let go of anxiety even when you can’t “solve the problems.” At first, you may be reluctant to do so, as it involves confronting thoughts that we are trying to stay away from.
In fact, however, the work your brain does to avoid those thoughts is the same process that causes anxiety. Thoughts, threatening, imminent, terrifying, circulate through your brain, with no way to escape. When you extract those thoughts and move them throughout all parts of your brain, you process them. You get distance and a more positive outlook.
Even for the things you can’t change.
Releasing anxiety not only makes you feel better, it also keeps you healthy. Living with anxiety means living in a constant state of biochemical stress, and the impact on your body can go far beyond your pounding heart and the tightness you feel. It can create stomach problems, IBS, headaches, and reduced immune function, even the development of high blood pressure and chronic pain.
All this, because your body is constantly bombarded with stress biochemicals.
But when you write down the thoughts, your brain processes them. Release them. It turns them into something you can work with, live with, and even grow with.
Automatic writing takes 20-30 minutes. I know, that’s hard to find in your busy schedule! But it gives you emotional freedom for a greater enjoyment of your life.
Find a time when you are not distracted. That can mean getting up early, staying up late, or getting up at night when thoughts wake you up. For 20 minutes, no more than 30, write down the most horrible, dreadful, unbearable, too terrifying for words, thoughts that you can drag from the depths of your mind. These are the thoughts that you normally try to get away from. Just to get all the negative thoughts lurking in the nooks and crannies of your brain. Don’t worry about spelling or punctuation.
You may find yourself saying things you don’t even like to think about, let alone say. That’s okay, you’re just bringing out the thoughts that have been hiding there, worrying you.
write them down, even if it feels bad while doing it. Let them be as bad, as scary as they are. You may have horrible thoughts about someone you love. You may be afraid of something that you cannot change. It doesn’t matter. Let your brain do its job.
After 20 minutes, it’s time to stop, although you can finish some thoughts if you want. Make sure you write for the full 20 minutes though, or you’ll stop when the scary stuff starts coming out.
When you’re done, tear it up. Break it up until there are no two words together and no one can read them. If you’ve done it right, it won’t be something you want anyone to see. It probably sounds extreme even to you!
At the end of your automatic writing, things may look different. Or maybe not! However, no matter how things look on the outside, your body will start to feel different on the inside. Your catastrophic thoughts have moved through all parts of your brain, onto paper, so your brain can see and handle them.
And your body doesn’t have to be afraid.