Dr David Hamilton Home Page

Let it Go
(www.drdavidhamilton.com)

Research has shown that when we hold in emotional pain it can express itself as illness in our body.

A number of years ago, psychologist James Pennebaker asked half of his students on one of his classes to write about their deepest thoughts and feelings regarding traumatic experiences in their lives. He asked the other half of his students to just write about everyday things. They did this exercise for 15 minutes for 4 successive days.

At the end of the college year, he obtained information from the college medical centre and it turned out that the students who wrote about their experiences had been much healthier - psychologically and physically - over the whole year than those who just wrote about everyday things.

This research has led to a lot of other research into treating diseases and their symptoms by helping patients to release their suppressed emotions. Emotions release chemicals from the brain that alter the surface structure of our cells. Thus, emotional pains can be stored, chemically, at the cellular level.

It is often the case that we hold in emotional pain over years and do not express it. Research has shown that when it is released, symptoms of even the most serious of diseases improve and in some cases, completely clear up.

Many similar research studies have shown that this type of self-therapy can boost the immune system.

In one experiment, students were asked to write about their emotional pains for 4 consecutive days. On the 5th day they received a Hepatitis B vaccination and boosters after 1 month and 4 months.

At the end of the study the students who had wrote about their emotional pains had significantly higher antibody levels against hepatitis B.

So, if you think it's appropriate and could be useful to you, why not give this simple exercise a try? You could receive some huge benefits.