From trauma to resilience: A research on expressive writing with young adults

Trauma is the “wound of the soul”, a destabilizing experience which disrupts the mind of those who experience it. Unprocessed traumatic memories are often fragmented, disorganized, and can be easily activated in the form of intrusive thoughts, hence traumatized individuals experience various forms of psychological distress. The expressive writing project has proved to be a valid tool as a support in stressful situations, highlighting a generalized positive effect on health. Expressive writing, by translating traumatic thoughts and feelings into language, helps traumatized individuals to make sense of upsetting events, to manage negative emotions, and improve their connections with the social world. The goal of this study was to verify the effect of an expressive writing protocol in a non-clinical context, represented by a sample of young adult university students and, particularly aiming at studying the effects of expressive writing in mitigating potential psychological problems related to stressful and/or traumatic events. Results have confirmed a fair efficacy of the expressive writing protocol, especially in supporting the enhancement of one’s coping and adaptation resources with respect to the outcomes of stressful events experienced.