Health and Writing

Abstract

There is literary evidence stating that expressive writing affects health outcomes. Nevertheless, the processes underlying its benefits remain unclear. In our previous article, we described the benefits of writing; in this article, we investigate the meaning-making processes underlying the traumatic experiences of parents of children with leukemia in off-therapy. We collected the writings of 23 parents and grouped them according to the parents' psychological outcome (low/good/high) with respect to anxiety, as assessed during a follow-up. We qualitatively analyzed the texts written by parents with good psychological outcomes to highlight their main meaning-making processes, that is, how they put into words the shattering experience, reordered the events, connected their emotions and the events, reevaluated the event, and reconstructed the time process. We found that parents with low/high outcomes articulated these processes differently. Furthermore, we discussed the uses and functions of written narration for each group.

Linguistic Markers of Processing Trauma Experience in Women’s Written Narratives During Different Breast Cancer Phases: Implications for Clinical Interventions

“…This ability allows to look with a positive involvement to the present and future, integrating the event into one’s own personal lifestory, adopting positive resources and an increasing the use of optimistic strategies for trauma resolution. We believe that this is facilitated by the possibility to construct a dialogue, over the time course of the illness, with one’s own life, thanks to a view of the future that is, gradually, more attainable ( Freda, De Luca Picione, & Martino, 2015 ; Freda & Martino, 2015 ).…”

“…The narration includes the role of a semiotic device, whereby the traumatic experience is reactualized in the here and now of the narrative setting. Through plot development during the narrative process, the writer sets up processes of semiotic connection that can promote change and knowledge, because he/she strives to find a configuration for events in the discourse that can make sense of the experience, even if temporarily, and thus promote integration of the trauma ( Freda & Martino, 2015 ; Greenberg & Paivio, 2003 ; Margherita, Gargiulo, & Martino, 2015 ; Margherita, Martino, Recano, & Camera, 2014 ). Therefore, the narrative allows us to understand these changes and the subjective way by which people understand and connect with these transformations, observe how these transformations are constructed, and emerge in the stories of the subjects ( Pals & McAdams, 2004 ).…”

“…On one hand, the evaluation of the benefits of the writing technique, in the context of breast or ovarian cancer, has been highlighted in the literature, showing a reduction of symptoms related to avoidance and approach to their emotions ( Zakowski, Ramati, Morton, Johnson, & Flanigan, 2004 ) or a reduction of distress and symptoms related to the condition of evasion ( Stanton et al, 2002 ). On the other hand, understanding of the change processes that underlie the beneficial effects of writing is incomplete ( Freda & Martino, 2015 ; Stone, Smith, Kaell, & Hurewitz, 2000 ).…”

Dream narration in healthy and at-risk pregnancy.

“…Dreams are not only a psychic act but are also language and narrative. They dramatize and present a person's inner world, but they are also a type of report that gives structure and form to this world, and, like every good story, they take on new meaning in the telling (Freda, Esposito, & Quaranta, in press;Freda & Martino, 2015;Margherita, 2009;Margherita, Martino, Recano, & Camera, 2014).…”

Reflective and Agentive Functions of Narrative Writing: a Qualitative Study on the Narratives of University Students

“…Narrative devices play a key role in facilitating the representation and re-assignment of meaning to the events of one's own life (Freda and Martino 2015;Lieblich 2012). Narrative is, in fact, a device of conventional categorization that moves within an analogical framework and activates ways of representing experiences.…”