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Park, Crystal L.; Blumberg, Carol Joyce

doi:10.1023/a:1020353109229

Cited by 139 publications

(31 citation statements)

References 44 publications

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“…Only the narrative expressive writing condition, in which participants were prompted to create a story and make meaning out of their painful experience, lowered HR and increased HRV relative to control writing. These results are consistent with other accounts of EW in which the narrative elements of the intervention were important for recovery following trauma and social disruption when using EW (27-30). Undergraduate students who were asked to engage in traditional EW, narrative EW or a control writing task and had higher levels of narrative structure, for example, yielded positive gains in terms of their psychological wellbeing (41).…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 90%

“…In addition to the traditional expressive writing condition, this study developed and implemented a novel, narrative EW condition that was designed to capitalize on prior EW research that found that meaning-making and the creation of a narrative to a stressful event were important elements of improvement due to EW (27-29). Participants in this condition received the traditional EW instructions, which focused on asking people to express their strongest emotions around their separation experience, along with additional prompting to create a story arc of their separation experience and develop a coherent story of their painful experience.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Impact of Narrative Expressive Writing on Heart Rate, Heart Rate Variability, and Blood Pressure After Marital Separation

et al. 2017

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Objective Divorce is a common stressor that is associated with increased risk for poor long-term physical and mental health. Using an experimental design, the current study examined the impact of expressive writing (EW) on average heart rate (HR), heart rate variability (HRV), and blood pressure (BP) 7.5 months later. Methods Participants from a community sample of recently separated adults (N=109) were assigned to one of three conditions, traditional EW, narrative EW, or a control writing condition, and assessed three times over an average of 7.5 months. Each study visit included 27 minutes of physiological assessment; the primary outcomes at each assessment were mean-level HR, HRV, BP scores averaged across six different tasks. Results Participants in the traditional EW condition did not significantly differ from control participants in their later HR, HRV, or BP. However, relative to control participants,those in the narrative EW condition had significantly lower HR, B = -3.38, 95% CI [-5.48, -1.23], p = .002, and higher HRV 7.5 months later, B = 0.34, 95% CI [0.15, 0.53], p < .001. These effects were moderately sized, Cohen’s ds = -0.61 and 0.60, respectively, and durable across all task conditions when analyzed in independent models.The writing condition groups did not differ in their later BP. Conclusions Narrative EW decreased HR and increased HRV following marital separation, but did not affect BP. We discuss the possible disconnect between psychology and physiology in response to EW, as well as possible future clinical applications following marital separation.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 90%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Impact of Narrative Expressive Writing on Heart Rate, Heart Rate Variability, and Blood Pressure After Marital Separation

et al. 2017

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“…A large body of literature has found that expressing emotions associated with stressful experiences, either verbally or in written form, leads to improved physical and psychological health (Park & Blumberg, 2002; Pennebaker, Mayne, & Francis, 1997). Repetitive written emotional exposure is effective in treating the severity of PTSD symptomatology and avoidance of stimuli associated with the trauma (Bernard, Jackson, & Jones, 2006; Sloan, Marx, & Epstein, 2005), which is consistent with the principles of exposure-based treatments.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Future Directions for Interventions Targeting PTSD in HIV-infected Adults

Applebaum¹,

Bedoya

Hendriksen³

et al. 2015

Journal of the Association of Nurses in AIDS Care

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Although studies consistently report high rates of comorbid Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) and HIV infection, development and testing of PTSD treatment interventions in HIV-infected adults is limited. As such, the purpose of this review was twofold. First, this review augments the 3 existing reviews of research for PTSD in HIV-infected adults conducted within the past 10 years. We found 2 empirically supported cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT)-based interventions for the treatment of trauma-related symptoms in HIV-infected adults. Due to the continued limited number of effective interventions for this population, a second aim of our review was to draw from the expansive field of effective PTSD interventions for the general population to propose ways that future clinical intervention research may be tailored for HIV-infected adults. Therefore, in addition to a review, we conceptualized this paper as an opportunity to generate an ideal preview of the field of intervention research in this population.

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“…Some of the reported benefits of these positive dispositions include: fewer physical symptoms [40], faster wound healing [41], healthier functioning biological processes (e.g., neuroendocrine, inflammatory, and cardiovascular activity) [42], better interpersonal relationships [43], higher quality of life [44], increased longevity [45], and decreased morbidity [46,47]. As such, the expressive writing paradigm has been adapted to have participants write about positive aspects of their lives and themselves (e.g., making meaning out of or finding benefit in past experiences; [48,49]; focusing on positive aspects of one's self [50]) under the notion that this would yield similar benefits to those observed in the positive psychology literature. As a whole, we refer to this array of positive-focused writing approaches as PAJ.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

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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Cited by 139 publications

References 44 publications

Impact of Narrative Expressive Writing on Heart Rate, Heart Rate Variability, and Blood Pressure After Marital Separation

Impact of Narrative Expressive Writing on Heart Rate, Heart Rate Variability, and Blood Pressure After Marital Separation

Future Directions for Interventions Targeting PTSD in HIV-infected Adults

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)

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