Does talking about hard things really help?
· Source: Frattaroli, Psychological Bulletin, 2006
Talking about hard things isn’t a cure. Across 146 experiments it helped a little, and the benefit held up across a very large body of research.
Does talking about hard things really help?
146 studies say: a little, and reliably. A review of 146 experiments found a small but real benefit from writing or talking about personal, difficult things. It was larger when people did it in private, over at least three sessions of 15 minutes or more. Three evenings, fifteen minutes each. Pick something recent that still bothers you. Talk it through alone, for a quarter of an hour, on three evenings this week. Say it for yourself. Come back tomorrow. Halflight keeps each evening under its date.