Product Description

Anyone who has ever entrusted a troubling secret to a journal, or mourned a broken heart with a friend, knows the feeling of relief that expressing painful emotions can bring. This book presents astonishing evidence that personal self-disclosure is not only good for our emotional health, but boosts our physical health as well.

Psychologist James W. Pennebaker has conducted controlled clinical research that sheds new light on the powerful mind body connection. This book interweaves his findings with insightful case studies on secret-keeping, confession, and the hidden price of silence. Filled with information and encouragement, Opening Up explains:

*Why suppressing inner problems takes a devastating toll on health
*How long-buried trauma affects the immune system
*How writing about your problems can improve your health
*Why it's never too late to heal old emotional wounds
*When self-disclosure may be risky--and how to know whom to trust

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #59055 in Books
• Published on: 1997-08-08
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 249 pages

Features

• ISBN13: 9781572302389
• Condition: NEW
• Notes: Brand New from Publisher. No Remainder Mark.
• Click here to view our Condition Guide and Shipping Prices

Review
Intelligent and provocative -- Kirkus Reviews

Some of the most important findings published in psychology in the past decade. This work, if followed, would change the lives of millions of people -- Robert Ornstein, PhD, co-author of Healthy Pleasures

This book is the very best that scientific psychology has to offer. Pennebaker has made remarkable discoveries that show how disclosing our deepest secrets can make us well...throws open new doors of understanding and offers new hope for gaining control of our lives -- Daniel M. Wegner, author of White Bears and Other Unwanted Thoughts

[A] delightfully readable and informative book on the relationship between inhibited emotion and disease states and the healing process of writing....OPENING UP can be used to support treatment. It is particularly useful in helping clients/patients increase their awareness of the effects of inhibited emotion and high- and low-level thinking strategies, and it is a natural support for therapeutic writing assignments -- Psychosomatic Medicine, Vol. 60 pages 782-786,1998

Review

About the Author
James W. Pennebaker, PhD, is Professor of Psychology at the University of Texas at Austin. His research on stress, emotion, and health has been funded by the National Science Foundation and National Institutes of Health, and has resulted in the publication of over 100 articles and 7 books.

Since receiving his doctoral degree in 1977, Pennebaker has taught at the University of Virginia and Southern Methodist University. His recent honors include an Honorary Doctorate degree from the University of Louvain (Belgium), the Pavlov Award, and the Hilgard Visiting Professorship at Stanford University. He lives in Austin with his wife, Ruth (a writer), and two children.

Customer Reviews

Confirmation of the Benefits of Self-Expression
In Opening Up Dr. Pennebaker discusses his research into the mind-body connection, and about how mental and physical health can be affected by how people express their deepest feelings about important life experiences. He describes the many studies he has taken part in and the case histories of individuals he has observed in the course of his career.

The bulk of Opening Up deals with the way in which writing (or verbalizing) the details of and emotions surrounding people's most traumatic (and occasionally most positive) life experiences can affect well-being. It is fascinating to learn how interconnected the mind and body actually are, and how effective the act of putting one's experiences into words can improve people's quality of life, or conversely how expressing the wrong kinds of feelings or expressing them inappropriately can do just the opposite. This book makes a quick yet intriguing read as Dr. Pennebaker expresses his observations in a way easy for the layperson follow and confines his notes to the end of the book so the reader is not distracted from the flow of the text.

That said, I have to add that the final chapter, "Beyond Traumas: Writing and Well-Being", seems superfluous. Diverse topics such as the use of in-class writing, note-taking, and the teaching of reading and writing to pre-school children are brought into the discussion and seem to have nothing but a tenuous connection to the rest of the book. These topics may have been better left out rather than brought up at the last minute and not really discussed at enough length to warrant their inclusion.

While the conclusion takes away from the book, I would still encourage anyone who is interested in psychology in general or the mind-body connection in particular to pick this book up.

I do have one caveat to make and it is directed to those who are under the impression that this book is a self-help book. While the subtitle, The Healing Power of Expressing Emotions, leads to potential reader to think that this book will show them how to use writing to heal themselves, this is not the case. If you are looking for a book to direct you I would recommend something like Louise deSalvo's Writing as a Way of Healing as a companion to this volume. deSalvo's book is largely based on Dr. Pennebaker's research but offers concrete advice on how someone looking to begin a writing practice could start out, providing exercises and checklists to ensure that the writing experience is beneficial to the writer.

Open Up "Opening Up"!
Expression of one's deepest thoughts and feelings has long been a staple of psychotherapy. Yet until Dr. James Pennebaker of the University of Texas published the results of his decades-long research program, little was known by the general public about the specific effects of self-disclosure. Dr. Pennebaker shows how writing down your thoughts and feelings (or dictating them into a tape recorder) can improve your physical as well as your mental health. In other words, it is not always necessary to confide in another person to obtain at least some of the benefits of self-expression. However, as the author makes clear, not all forms of self-disclosure are beneficial, and he gives specific guidance on what to do and what to avoid.

Scientific validation for the benefits of journaling
Pennebaker's studies of people who wrote about their deepest traumas and hurts demonstrate that expressing feelings is helpful and healing. People who participated in the studies showed improved immune function as measured by doctor visits compared to controls groups who didn't journal or who journaled about daily events and omitted their feelings.

If you've kept a journal and written about what troubles you, you know how much this unloading can improve your mood. It's nice to have someone listen to you, or to have the compassionate attention of a paid therapist who can help you see your patterns. But it's also comforting to know that science has shown that journaling can be a way for you to be your own therapist. In this book, the author shares stories of people and their writing. This is a good book to point to if anyone thinks journaling is just narcissistic scribbling.

~~Joan Mazza, psychotherapist and author of DREAM BACK YOUR LIFE; DREAMING YOUR REAL SELF; WHO'S CRAZY ANYWAY? and 3 books in The Guided Journal Series with Writer's Digest Books/Walking Stick Press.