Browsing by Subject "expressive writing"

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    Does narrative writing instruction enhance the benefits of expressive writing?
    (Elsevier, 2010-05-01) Danoff-Burg, Sharon; Mosher, Catherine E.; Seawell, Asani H.; Agee, John D.
    We examined whether instructing participants to write in a narrative fashion about stressful life events would produce superior physical and psychological health benefits relative to standard expressive writing instructions that do not specify the essay's structure. Undergraduates (N=101) were randomly assigned to engage in two, 20-minute narrative writing, standard expressive writing, or control writing tasks. Follow-up data were obtained one month later. The essays of the narrative writing group evidenced higher levels of narrative structure than did those of the expressive writing group. Greater narrative structure was associated with mental health gains, and self-rated emotionality of the essays was associated with lesser perceived stress at follow-up. In addition, the narrative and expressive writing groups reported lower levels of perceived stress and depressive symptoms relative to controls but did not differ from each other with regard to these outcomes. Health care utilization at follow-up did not vary by group assignment. Findings suggest that both emotional expression and narrative structure may be key factors underlying expressive writing's mental health benefits. Results also suggest that, among college students, instruction in narrative formation does not increase the positive effects of expressive writing relative to standard expressive writing instructions.
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    Randomised trial of expressive writing for distressed metastatic breast cancer patients
    (Elsevier, 2012-01-01) Mosher, Catherine E.; DuHamel, Katherine N.; Lam, Joanne; Dickler, Maura; Li, Yuelin; Massie, Mary Jane; Norton, Larry
    Women with metastatic breast cancer and significant psychological distress (N = 87) were assigned randomly to engage in four home-based sessions of expressive writing or neutral writing. Women in the expressive writing group wrote about their deepest thoughts and feelings regarding their cancer, whereas women in the neutral writing group wrote about their daily activities in a factual manner. No statistically significant group differences in existential and psychological well-being, fatigue and sleep quality were found at 8-weeks post-writing. However, the expressive writing group reported significantly greater use of mental health services during the study than the neutral writing group (55% vs. 26%, respectively; p < 0.05). Findings suggest that expressive writing may improve the uptake of mental health services among distressed cancer patients, but is not broadly effective as a psychotherapeutic intervention.