Expressive Writing Worksheet Overview
Expressive writing means writing freely about your deepest thoughts and feelings on something that has upset you. Psychologist James Pennebaker developed the method in the 1980s, and it can help when an experience keeps weighing on your mind.
This worksheet explains how to write for 15 to 20 minutes on four days in a row. It helps you choose a topic, gives you room to start writing, and includes a short check-in for each day.
In this worksheet, we’ll:
- Explain how expressive writing works and why it can help
- Help you choose what to write about and when
- Give you space to start your first writing session
- Provide a log to check in after each day
- Help you look back on the experience after four days
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Pennebaker, J. W., & Beall, S. K. (1986). Confronting a traumatic event: Toward an understanding of inhibition and disease. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 95(3), 274-281.
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Pennebaker, J. W. (1997). Writing about emotional experiences as a therapeutic process. Psychological Science, 8(3), 162-166.
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Frattaroli, J. (2006). Experimental disclosure and its moderators: A meta-analysis. Psychological Bulletin, 132(6), 823-865.
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Pennebaker, J. W., & Smyth, J. M. (2016). Opening Up by Writing It Down (3rd ed.). Guilford Press.
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