![]() ![]() The participants who wrote about the most stressful event of their lives experienced better health evaluations related to their illness than the control group, who wrote about emotionally neutral topics (Smyth et al., 1999).Įxpressive writing may even improve immune system functioning, although the writing practice may need to be sustained for the health benefits to continue (Murray, 2002). In fact, participants in a study who wrote about their most traumatic experiences for 15 minutes, four days in a row, experienced better health outcomes up to four months than those who were instructed to write about neutral topics (Baikie & Wilhelm, 2005).Īnother study tested the same writing exercise on over 100 asthma and rheumatoid arthritis patients, with similar results. These are certainly not trivial benefits, but the potential benefits of writing therapy reach further and deeper than simply writing in a diary.įor individuals who have experienced a traumatic or extremely stressful event, expressive writing guided purposefully toward specific topics can have a significant healing effect. Keeping a journal can be extremely helpful, whether it’s to improve memory, record important bits and pieces of the day, or just relax at the end of a long day. While the process of writing therapy differs from simple journaling in these three main ways, there is also another big difference between the two practices in terms of outcomes.
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