Putting Feelings Into Words Produces Therapeutic Effects In The Brain

June 22, 2007 Why does putting our feelings into words -- talking with a therapist or friend, writing in a journal -- help us to feel better" A new brain imaging study by UCLA psy hologists re!eals why !erbali"ing our feelings makes our sadness, anger and pain less intense#
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Another study, with the same parti ipants and three of the same members of the resear h team, ombines modern neuros ien e with an ient $uddhist tea hings to pro!ide the first neural e!iden e for why "mindfulness" -- the ability to li!e in the present moment, without distra tion -- seems to produ e a !ariety of health benefits# When people see a photograph of an angry or fearful fa e, they ha!e in reased a ti!ity in a region of the brain alled the amygdala, whi h ser!es as an alarm to a ti!ate a as ade of biologi al systems to prote t the body in times of danger# % ientists see a robust amygdala response e!en when they show su h emotional photographs subliminally, so fast a person an&t e!en see them# $ut does seeing an angry fa e and simply alling it an angry fa e hange our brain response" 'he answer is yes, a ording to (atthew )# Lieberman, UCLA asso iate professor of psy hology and a founder of so ial ogniti!e neuros ien e# "When you atta h the word &angry,& you see a de reased response in the amygdala," said Lieberman, lead author of the study, whi h appears in the urrent issue of the journal *sy hologi al % ien e# 'he study showed that while the amygdala was less a ti!e when an indi!idual labeled the feeling, another region of the brain was more a ti!e+ the right !entrolateral prefrontal orte,# 'his region is lo ated behind the forehead and eyes and has been asso iated with thinking in words about emotional e,perien es# -t has also been impli ated in inhibiting beha!ior and pro essing emotions, but e,a tly what it ontributes has not been known# "What we&re suggesting is when you start thinking in words about your emotions --labeling emotions -that might be part of what the right !entrolateral region is responsible for," Lieberman said# -f a friend or lo!ed one is sad or angry, getting the person to talk or write may ha!e benefits beyond whate!er a tual insights are gained# 'hese effe ts are likely to be modest, howe!er, Lieberman said# "We typi ally think of language pro essing in the left side of the brain. howe!er, this effe t was o urring only in this one region, on the right side of the brain," he said# "-t&s rare to see only one region of the brain responsi!e to a high-le!el pro ess like labeling emotions#" (any people are not likely to reali"e why putting their feelings into words is helpful# "-f you ask people who are really sad why they are writing in a journal, they are not likely to say it&s be ause they think this is a way to make themsel!es feel better," Lieberman said# "*eople don&t do this to intentionally o!er ome their negati!e feelings. it just seems to ha!e that effe t# *opular psy hology says when you&re feeling down, just pi k yourself up, but the world doesn&t work that way# -f you know you&re trying to pi k yourself up, it usually doesn&t work -- self-de eption is diffi ult# $e ause labeling your feelings doesn&t re/uire you to want to feel better, it doesn&t ha!e this problem#" 'hirty people, 01 women and 02 men between ages of 01 and 34, parti ipated in Lieberman&s study at UCLA&s Ahmanson-Lo!ela e $rain (apping Center# 'hey !iewed images of indi!iduals making different emotional e,pressions# $elow the pi ture of the fa e they either saw two words, su h as "angry" and "fearful," and hose whi h emotion des ribed the fa e, or they saw two names, su h as "5arry" and "%ally," and hose the gender-appropriate name that mat hed the fa e# Lieberman and his o-authors -- UCLA assistant professor of psy hology 6aomi 7isenberger, former UCLA psy hology undergraduate (olly Cro kett, former UCLA psy hology resear h assistant %abrina 'om, UCLA psy hology graduate student 8ennifer *feifer and $aldwin Way, a postdo toral fellow in Lieberman&s laboratory -- used fun tional magneti resonan e imaging to study subje ts& brain a ti!ity# "When you atta h the word &angry,& you see a de reased response in the amygdala," Lieberman said# "When you atta h the name &5arry,& you don&t see the redu tion in the amygdala response#

"When you put feelings into words, you&re a ti!ating this prefrontal region and seeing a redu ed response in the amygdala," he said# "-n the same way you hit the brake when you&re dri!ing when you see a yellow light, when you put feelings into words, you seem to be hitting the brakes on your emotional responses#" As a result, an indi!idual may feel less angry or less sad# 'his is an ient wisdom," Lieberman said# "*utting our feelings into words helps us heal better# -f a friend is sad and we an get them to talk about it, that probably will make them feel better#" 'he right !entrolateral prefrontal orte, undergoes mu h of its de!elopment during a hild&s preteen and teenage years# -t is possible that intera tion with friends and family during these years ould shape the strength of this brain region&s response, but this is not yet established, Lieberman said# 9ne benefit of therapy may be to strengthen this brain region# )oes therapy lead to physiologi al hanges in the right !entrolateral prefrontal orte," Lieberman, UCLA psy hology professor (i helle Craske and their olleagues are studying this /uestion# Com ining Buddhist Teachings and !odern "euroscience After the parti ipants left the brain s anner, 2: of them filled out /uestionnaires about "mindfulness#" (indfulness meditation, whi h is !ery popular in %outheast Asia and elsewhere, originates from early $uddhist tea hings dating ba k some 2,;<< years, said )a!id Creswell, a resear h s ientist with the Cousins Center for *sy honeuroimmunology at the %emel -nstitute for 6euros ien e and 5uman $eha!ior at UCLA# (indfulness is a te hni/ue in whi h one pays attention to his or her present emotions, thoughts and body sensations, su h as breathing, without passing judgment or rea ting# An indi!idual simply releases his thoughts and "lets it go#" "9ne way to pra ti e mindfulness meditation and pay attention to present-moment e,perien es is to label your emotions by saying, for e,ample, &-&m feeling angry right now& or &-&m feeling a lot of stress right now& or &this is joy& or whate!er the emotion is," said Creswell, lead author of the study, whi h will be featured in an up oming issue of *sy hosomati (edi ine, a leading international medi al journal for health psy hology resear h# "'hinking, &this is anger& is what we do in this study, where people look at an angry fa e and say, &this is anger,&" Lieberman noted# Creswell said Lieberman has now shown in a series of studies that simply labeling emotions turns down the amygdala alarm enter response in the brain that triggers negati!e feelings# Creswell, who ondu ted the mindfulness resear h as an ad!an ed graduate student of psy hology at UCLA, said mindfulness meditation is a "potent and powerful therapy that has been helping people for thousands of years#" *re!ious studies ha!e shown that mindfulness meditation is effe ti!e in redu ing a !ariety of hroni pain onditions, skin disease, stress-related health onditions and a !ariety of other ailments, he said# Creswell and his UCLA olleagues -- Lieberman, 7isenberger and Way -- found that during the labeling of emotions, the right !entrolateral prefrontal orte, was a ti!ated, whi h seems to turn down a ti!ity in the amygdala# 'hey then ompared parti ipants& responses on the mindfulness /uestionnaire with the results of the labeling study# "We found the more mindful you are, the more a ti!ation you ha!e in the right !entrolateral prefrontal orte, and the less a ti!ation you ha!e in the amygdala," Creswell said# "We also saw a ti!ation in widespread enters of the prefrontal orte, for people who are high in mindfulness# 'his suggests people who are more mindful bring all sorts of prefrontal resour es to turn down the amygdala# 'hese findings may help e,plain the benefi ial health effe ts of mindfulness meditation, and suggest, for the first time, an underlying reason why mindfulness meditation programs impro!e mood and health# "'he right !entrolateral prefrontal orte, an turn down the emotional response you get when you feel angry," he said# "'his mo!es us forward in beginning to understand the benefits of mindfulness meditation# =or the first time, we&re now applying s ientifi prin iples to try to understand how mindfulness works# "'his is su h an e, iting study be ause it brings together the $uddha&s tea hings -- more than 2,;<< years ago, he talked about the benefits of labeling your e,perien e -- with modern neuros ien e," Creswell said# "6ow, for the first time sin e those tea hings, we ha!e shown there is a tually a neurologi al reason for doing mindfulness meditation# 9ur findings are onsistent with what mindfulness meditation tea hers ha!e taught for thousands of years#" 'he resear h was supported by the 6ational -nstitute of (ental 5ealth# Share this story on Facebook, Twitter, and Google:

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