Opening Up by Writing It Down (Third Edition)

How Expressive Writing Improves Health and Eases Emotional Pain

By: James W. Pennebaker, Joshua M. Smyth

Narrated by: Douglas James

Expressing painful emotions is hard—yet it can actually improve our mental and physical health.

This lucid, compassionate audiobook has introduced tens of thousands of listeners to expressive writing, a simple yet powerful self-help technique grounded in scientific research. Leading experts James W. Pennebaker and Joshua M. Smyth describe how taking just a few minutes to write about deeply felt personal experiences or problems may help you:

• Heal old emotional wounds
• Feel a greater sense of well-being
• Decrease stress
• Improve relationships
• Boost your immune system

Vivid stories and examples yield compelling insights into secrets, self-disclosure, and the hidden price of silence. The third edition incorporates findings from hundreds of recent studies and includes practical exercises to help you try expressive writing for yourself. It features extensive new information on specific health benefits, as well as when the approach may not be helpful.

Opening Up by Writing It Down is wonderfully narrated by Douglas James, and comes with a downloadable PDF, which includes all writing exercises contained in the book.

Produced and published by Echo Point Books & Media, an independent bookseller in Brattleboro, Vermont.

PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying PDF will be available in your Audible Library along with the audio.

©2016 The Guilford Press (P)2019 Echo Point Books & Media, LLC

Must listen for people interested in lessening the pain of the past

The narrator's voice sounds like Dave Ramsay to me. So, if you can't stand the guy, you won't be able to listen to this if you think he sounds like him. I do appreciate how Dr. Pennebaker admits that writing alone isn't going to be the miraculous cure for all of the physical and psychological issues you have. He cites various studies that document that people did obtain relief of some sort from writing about traumatic or haunting past events.