The durability of beneficial health effects associated with expressive writing

Abstract

This study examined the durability of benefits associated with expressive writing. Sixty-eight college undergraduates completed measures of physical and psychological health at the beginning of their first year and were then randomized to either an expressive writing or a control writing condition. Changes in physical health, psychological health (i.e., depression, stress, and anxiety), and academic performance were assessed two, four, and six months later. Findings indicated that participants assigned to the expressive writing condition reported less depression symptom severity at the two-month follow-up assessment relative to participants assigned to the control condition. However, these symptom reductions were not observed at any of the subsequent follow-up assessments. No significant changes were reported for physical health complaints, stress symptoms, anxiety symptoms, or academic performance. These findings suggest that, among first-year college students, expressive writing may provide some short-term relief for certain symptoms.

Does narrative writing instruction enhance the benefits of expressive writing?

“…Regarding the present research, it may be that the short period of time (one month) between writing and follow-up were not of adequate length for differences in University Health Center visits to emerge. A recent expressive writing study with college students, however, found no changes in physical health and stress and anxiety symptoms at 2, 4, and 6-month follow-ups (Sloan, Feinstein, & Marx, in press). Among healthy young adults, there may be little room for improvement in health outcomes.…”

Analyzing Writing Anxiety Level of Turkish Cypriot Students

“…Bu noktadan hareketle yazmaya ilgisi olan öğrencilerin yazma sürecinde pek kaygılanmadıkları sonucuna varılabilir. Bazı araştırmalarda (DeSalvo, 1999;Johnson, 2000;Nye, 1997;Sloan, Feinstein ve Marx, 2009) yazmanın insanı kaygılandırmaktan öte duygusal rahatlama sağladığı üzerinde durulmaktadır. Bu araştırmada da günlük, şiir ve öykü yazan öğrencilerin yazma kaygılarının düşük olması yanında duygusal rahatlama amacıyla yazmaya yöneldikleri düşünülmektedir.…”

The Effects of Expressive Writing on Postpartum Depression and Posttraumatic Stress Symptoms

“…To understand the process through which changes take place, it would have been useful to check the eff ectiveness or ineff ectiveness of a writing intervention after intermediate times. Although most of the studies use only one follow-up assessment ( Sloan, Feinstein, & Marx, 2009 ), this procedure did not allow the authors to evaluate the process through which the modifi cation of symptoms took place, along with possible variation in patterns of symptoms. In particular, intermediate follow-ups could have provided more information to understand the reasons of the lack of eff ectiveness of the expressive writing on intrusive PTS and cognitive depression symptoms.…”