Expressive writing and positive writing for participants with mood disorders: An online randomized controlled trial

Baikie, Karen A.; Geerligs, Liesbeth; Wilhelm, Kay

doi:10.1016/j.jad.2011.11.032

Cited by 116 publications

(105 citation statements)

References 54 publications

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“…For example, for depressive episodes brought on by adaptations designed to promote analytical thinking or accepting defeat, treatment interventions that reduce avoidance and increase rather than decrease the cognitive processing of the problems that an individual is facing may help resolve symptoms. This theoretical framework may explain data showing the potential benefits of "exposure-based" ruminative processing for treating depression (Baikie et al, 2012;Grosse Holtforth et al, 2012;Hayes et al, 2007Hayes et al, , 2005Pennebaker, 1997;Resick et al, 2002). A recent study of patients with MDD showed that exposure-based expressive writing exercises resulted in a persistent Fig.…”

Section: Implications For the Use Of Psychotherapymentioning

confidence: 93%

An adaptationist perspective on the etiology of depression

Durisko

Mulsant

Andrews

2015

Journal of Affective Disorders

113

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Section: Implications For the Use Of Psychotherapymentioning

confidence: 93%

An adaptationist perspective on the etiology of depression

Durisko

Mulsant

Andrews

2015

Journal of Affective Disorders

113

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“…Another possible explanation is that participants believed there were diminishing returns on therapeutic benefit as journaling sessions increased; a single weekly journaling session could have been deemed therapeutically equivalent to multiple sessions, for example. Online interventions are becoming more prevalent (e.g., [76]) as they can be administered at lower costs and disseminated to more people. Future work should investigate factors that drive adherence to online PAJ interventions and explore opportunities to improve the interventions themselves, given the benefits observed in this study.…”

Section: Feasibility Of Interventionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Online Positive Affect Journaling in the Improvement of Mental Distress and Well-Being in General Medical Patients With Elevated Anxiety Symptoms: A Preliminary Randomized Controlled Trial (Preprint)

Smyth¹,

Johnson²,

Auer³

et al. 2018

Preprint

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Background: Positive affect journaling (PAJ), an emotion-focused self-regulation intervention, has been associated with positive outcomes among medical populations. It may be adapted for online dissemination to address a need for scalable, evidence-based psychosocial interventions among distressed patients with medical conditions.Objective: This study examined the impact of a 12-week online PAJ intervention on psychological distress and quality of life in general medical patients.Methods: Seventy adults with various medical conditions were recruited from local clinics and randomly assigned to an online PAJ intervention (n=35) or usual care (n=35). The intervention group completed 15-minute online PAJ sessions on three days each week for 12 weeks. At baseline and the end of months 1 through 3, surveys of psychological, interpersonal, and physical well-being were completed. Results:Patients evidenced moderate sustained adherence to online intervention. PAJ was associated with decreased mental distress (p's≤.045) and increased well-being (p's ≤.046) relative to baseline. PAJ was also associated with less depressive symptoms (p=.047) and anxiety (p=.01) after one month, and greater resilience after the first (p=.044) and second month (p=.01), relative to usual care. Conclusions:Online PAJ may serve as an effective intervention for mitigating mental distress, increasing well-being, and enhancing physical functioning among medical populations. PAJ may be integrated into routine medical care to improve quality of life.Trial Registration: ClinicalTrials.gov NCT01873599

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“…Recent studies have pitched "positive writing" -whereby participants are asked to write "the most intensely positive experience" of their life "or an extremely important positive issue" that has affected them -against "expressive writing-as-usual" in participants with mood disorders and found that health outcomes were the same (Baikie, Geerligs & Wilhelm, 2012) in keeping with previous research, illustrating that writing may have an effect whether or not it focuses on traumatic experiences (Burton & King, 2004;King, 2001). Building on these findings, in the present study we assert that the addition of specific positive emotions into the writing intervention, yet without limiting the subject matter of the writing, may have a host of benefits over and above those associated with "expressive writing-as-usual."…”

Section: Positive Emotion In Expressive Writingmentioning

confidence: 99%

‘Not like rose-tinted glasses… like taking a pair of dirty glasses off’: A pilot intervention using positive emotions in expressive writing

Hayes¹,

Hefferon²

2015

Intnl. J. Wellbeing

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Studies conducted in various contexts and with varied populations have found expressive writing enhances physical and psychological wellbeing. This pilot intervention study countered the predominantly quantitative evidence by adopting a qualitative methodology, exploring the experience of using positive emotions in expressive writing. Participants (n = 10), who all had previous experience in expressive writing, were asked to select one of ten positive emotion cards (PECs) each day for three days. Participants were then asked to write expressively through the 'lens' of their chosen emotion. Semi-structured interviews were conducted and experiences were evaluated using Thematic Analysis. The results identified two main themes that compared the experience of expressive writing both with and without the PECs. The first theme, Processing (without the PECs) contained three sub-themes: sense of relief, habitual perspective and reactive to experience. The second main theme, Progressing (with the PECs) contained three different sub-themes: sense of direction, changed perspective and interactive with experience. This study found that, for expressive writers, positive emotions may function in three ways: to relate to others or self-expand, to move past challenges cognitively or change unconstructive perspectives, and finally as a way to interactively link or 'bridge' from the written subject matter to constructive action, thus breaking cycles of reactive writing and rumination. Implications of the study on the practice of expressive writing and its potential as a positive psychology intervention (PPI) are discussed.

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Expressive writing and positive writing for participants with mood disorders: An online randomized controlled trial

Cited by 116 publications

References 54 publications

An adaptationist perspective on the etiology of depression

An adaptationist perspective on the etiology of depression

Online Positive Affect Journaling in the Improvement of Mental Distress and Well-Being in General Medical Patients With Elevated Anxiety Symptoms: A Preliminary Randomized Controlled Trial (Preprint)

‘Not like rose-tinted glasses… like taking a pair of dirty glasses off’: A pilot intervention using positive emotions in expressive writing

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