Master Your Emotions With CBT, Expressive Writing & Music

Before we get started I'd like to ask you a couple of questions to see where you feel you are right now in terms of emotions and processing. I've also included a link to established questionnaires if you would like to complete those for yourself.

We will look at the development of expressive writing and how it was created by James W Pennebaker.

In this lecture you are going to have a go at a Free Writing exercise called The Morning Pages.

In this lecture we will prepare ourselves to use the Pennebaker Expressive Writing Method by looking first at how we can choose what to write about, how to rate the intensity of feeling about the issue you choose, and how to tell if something is worth writing about.

Let’s Write!

Writing Session 1 - Offloading

We will practice the Pennebaker technique after having chosen what to write about

In this lecture we are going to start writing about your chosen experience in an initial 'offload' session.

Writing Session 2 – Processing

Let’s write to process the feelings

In this lecture we are going to be looking back over what we have written and reflecting on the process and what you noticed about that exercise.

We will also check that all the action steps have been taken before we proceed to the next stage.

What are emotions.

Managing the feelings that come up for you when you do expressive writing will be so much easier if you can unpack emotions into their different parts because then you can 'process' what you offload onto the paper. In this video we will look at what emotions are and I will introduce you to a new theory of emotion that has been changing people's perceptions of what emotions actually are.

Classical View of Emotions

Constructivist View of Emotions

Predictions and Corrections

Reactive or Proactive

The difference between the classical view of emotions and the theory of constructed emotion. How we can use our bodies to notice emotions.

Also, identifying emotions using information from our bodies.

Interoception is the sense of our own bodily sensations and activity and our interoceptive network is a key player in our emotional experiences. In this video we look at interoception and how it can help us to understand what we feel and manage these feelings more easily than only looking at thoughts.

In the video we look at how to put feelings into words to make them more manageable.

We will look at the 'Hot Cross Bun' technique and how it can help us to unpack how we feel in order to process the feeling.

Through a combination of mindful interoceptive awareness and emotion labelling we will start by noticing the emotion of pride. We will notice how this presents in our bodies and will also practice noticing the other elements of this emotion, such as the thoughts that go through our minds and the actions we take.

In this video we use the hot cross bun technique to unpack an experience of feeling angry into its separate elements in order to process and manage it.

In this video we look at how rumination can keep us stuck in a feeling of anger.

At the core of the thoughts, emotions and sensations you notice about a situation, there will be a central story, core belief, or 'schema' that represents the meaning that event has for you. In this video we look at noticing this central story or meaning.

Let's summarise all of the techniques we have looked at for how we can understand and process our feelings.

Writing about traumatic events: Part One

How to know when to write about traumatic events

Elements for safety when writing about traumatic events

Rating the intensity of traumatic memories

Writing about traumatic events: Part Two

Preparation of yourself and your space

Grounding, Orienting and Dual Awareness

In this video we start by doing a mindful breathing, grounding and orienting technique and then move onto choosing an experience to write about.

We will then start our first writing session, writing about your chosen event.

In this video we will write again, to process the event, then do a post-writing grounding technique and review what we have covered in this section.

In this section we put expressive writing techniques together with the managing emotion techniques we have just learned in the previous section. First we look at the importance of 'offloading' and disclosing experiences and why it can have a negative impact on our health if we keep things in or keep secrets.

We then look at:

How long should you write for?

When should I write?

Let’s Write: 7 min Offload

We recap on how to structure and process what you are writing about, in order to manage the emotions that the situation is activating for you.

In this video we are going to experiment with doing either morning pages or nightly pages and then trying out different durations of expressive writing.

In the resources section I have made worksheets for you to record any reflections on these techniques. In the next video we will look at the Weekly offload as a process.

In this video we experiment with either a weekly offload, or the standard expressive writing technique of doing it 'as and when' it feels like you have something to process.  If you choose this latter technique then you only need to write whenever you feel like you have something to process - which is the way that I use this technique.

In this video we look at adding music to our expressive writing practice to enhance the processing of emotional experiences. We look at how music can activate, or stimulate, soothe and calm and I give you a link to a special playlist I've created for expressive writing. We will look at:

Adding Music To Our Practice:

Music and arousal state

Three main types of music for writing

Let’s Write: Bilateral music & Expressive Writing

In this video we will look at binaural music, what it is and how it can help with our processing. We will also have a go at using a specific binaural playlist whilst writing.

After trying the binaural beats and the expressive writing playlist what did you find? We will reflect on the differences and how to use them in your practice moving forward.

We will also look at using more 'passive' meditative music and your own choice of music.

Record your findings on the Processing Plan Worksheet in the Resources section.

In this final section of the course we are going to go over all of the areas and choose the specific techniques and methods that are right for you so that you will have your own plan for what to do when you need to write to offload and process an experience.