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Write Your Fears to Help Prevent Failure

Writing about your fears can help you conquer them, according to new research.

Worried about failure? Of course you are—everyone is. But fear no more, for science is here to help.

According to new research appearing in the journal Science, writing about fears of performance anxiety directly before performing can significantly reduce failure due to that anxiety.


To arrive at this conclusion, researchers gave 20 students an exam, saying they'd get money for good scores. Half the students were then given several minutes to write down their worries about the test while the other half sat quietly. Come grading time, the students who hadn't written about their anxiety did 12 percent worse than the ones who had. Also, the writing did not help when students were given time to write about whatever they wanted.

In other words, your therapist was right: It's good to let out your fears.

photo (cc) via Flickr user matsuyuki

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