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Here are some findings from research reports:
- “At four months post-treatment, both asthma and
rheumatoid arthritis patients who wrote about stressful events showed clear and
dramatic health improvements. These
finding . . . suggest that written disclosure may be a useful adjunct to
medical treatment. Not only were these
effects reliably observed four months after the structured writing, they also
appear clinically meaningful.”2
- J.W. Pennebaker, who has studied the therapeutic
effects of journaling in healthy subjects for nearly two decades, writes,
“After dozens of studies in multiple labs, I am now a true believer in the
value of writing and disclosure.”3
- Keeping a journal of one’s feelings about a traumatic
experience, as well as the effort to mentally process that experience, can help
people effectively work through it.”4
Newsweek, the New York Times,
USA Today, and other major publications have run stories about the
proven power of journaling.
5
The University of Michigan Health System Comprehensive Cancer Center provides
extensive online information to patients about how and why to journal.6
Use/Application Consideration
- Some
researchers say that understanding traumatic events, and not just
“ventilating” about them, makes a difference in the quality of outcomes
from journaling: e.g., “Engagement of both thoughts and emotions while
journaling about a stressful or traumatic experience can raise awareness
of the benefits of the event,” say Philip M. Ullrich and Susan K.
Lutgendorf, Ph.D., of the University of Iowa. “In contrast, focusing
solely on the emotional aspects of traumas may not produce a greater
understanding of traumatic events.”7
In one
clinical experience, e-mail proved an effective means for therapeutic
journaling.8
Not
all medical professionals are persuaded that journaling has the healing
powers that many ascribe to it.9
Resource
Recommendations
The following books and articles
are recommended, in addition to those cited in the footnotes.
Books
|
Bolton, G., K. Calman, and T. Hughes. Therapeutic
Potential for Creative Writing. (London: Jessica Kingsley, 1999) |
 |
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DeSalvo, L. Writing as A Way of Healing: How Telling Our
Stories Transforms Our Lives (Beacon Press, 2000) |
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LePore, S.J., and Smyth, J.M. The Writing Cure: How Expressive Writing Promotes Health and
Emotion Wellbeing (Washington, D.C.: American Psychological Association,
2002) |
|
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Pennebaker, J.W. Emotion, Disclosure, and Health
(Washington, D.C.: American Psychological Association, 2002) |
|
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Pennebaker, J.W. Opening Up: The Healing Power of
Expressing Emotions (Guilford Press, 1997) |
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Articles
Pennebaker J.W.,
J.K. Kiecolt-Glaser and R. Glaser. “Disclosure of Traumas and Immune Function:
Health Implications for Psychotherapy.” Journal of Consultative and Clinical
PsychologyApr;56(2)( 1988):239-45
Footnotes
[2] Smyth, J.M.,
Stone, A.A., Hurewitz, A., Kaell, A. “Effects of Writing About Stressful
Experiences on Symptom Reduction in Patients with Asthma or Rheumatoid
Arthritis, A Randomized Trial.” Journal of the American Medical
Association, 281 (1999): 1304 - 1309.
[3] Pennebacker,
J.W. “Inhibition, disclosure and health/Response.” Advances: Journal of Mind/Body Medicine, 15 (1999): 193 – 195.
[4] Luttgendorf,
S., and Ullrich, P. “Journaling About Stressful Events: Effects of Cognitive
Processing and Emotional Expression” Annals of Behavioral Medicine 24:2
(2002): 244-248
[5] See Kalb, C.
“Pen Paper, Power! Confessional Writing Can Be Good for You.” Newsweek
(April 26, 1999); Elias, M. “You’ve Got Trauma, but Writing Can Help” USA
Today (June 30, 2002)
[http://www.usatoday.com/life/cyber/tech/2002/07/01/email.htm]
[8] Strasser,
F., M. Fisch, et. al. “E-motions: Email
for Written Emotional Expression.” Journal of Clinical Oncology 20(2002):
3352-3355
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