The Cure Power of Expressing Emotions

Expressing emotions is curative. It has health-sustaining benefits.

I learned of this study in 1995 where two control groups were given movies to watch. One group was given movies on Mother Teresa, while the other was given movies on Nazi war actrocities. The group watching Mother Teresa showed elevations in disease-fighting antibodies. The group watching the Nazi war developed depressed immune systems or lower antibody levels.

We can extrapolate the findings in this study into the area of emotional health. Blocked feelings cause distress and illness. Negative thinking or exposure to fighting and violence depress the body's immune system. If you deny what you are feeling, you lose access to your internal world. Such repression then undermines health.

Psychological and physical health are greatly enhanced then by our ability to attend, connect, and express our feelings and thoughts. Combine it with a safe person or place in which to share feelings, the result is curative and life-giving.