Expecting to heal through self-expression: a perceived control theory of writing and health

Andersson, Matthew A.; Conley, Colleen S.

doi:10.1080/17437190802660890

Cited by 26 publications

(6 citation statements)

References 201 publications

(239 reference statements)

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“…In addition, there is also a considerable body of research that has implicated insufficient sleep to poorer self-regulatory capacity (Altena, Van Der Werf, Strijers, & Van Someren, 2008) and cognitive functioning (Walker, 2008). This is important from a health perspective because self-regulation has been recognised as an important factor in the uptake and adherence to health-promoting behaviours such as physical activity and following a low-fat diet (Aarts, 2007;Andersson & Conley, 2008;De Ridder & De Wit, 2006;Hall & Fong, 2007) and resisting relapse in behaviours that have deleterious effects of health such as smoking and consuming alcohol above recommended limits (Hagger, Wood, Stiff, & Chatzisarantis, 2009.…”

Section: Sleep Self-regulation Self-control and Healthmentioning

confidence: 99%

Sleep, self‐regulation, self‐control and health

Hagger

2010

Stress and Health

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Section: Sleep Self-regulation Self-control and Healthmentioning

confidence: 99%

Sleep, self‐regulation, self‐control and health

Hagger

2010

Stress and Health

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“…Such adaptions, for instance, included the addition of interactions with a therapist or the provision of more detailed and guided writing instructions. Importantly, the main component of the treatment remained the writing itself and a number of mechanisms have been described to explain the observed treatment benefits (including improved self-regulation, cognitive processing of the trauma memory, and restoring perceptions of control; Andersson & Conley, 2008 ; Frattaroli, 2006 ; Smyth & Pennebaker, 2008 ). Besides the assumed beneficial health effects, the parsimony of writing treatments, as well as the huge potential to close gaps in the provision of PTSD treatment through remote (e.g.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Comparative efficacy and acceptability of expressive writing treatments compared with psychotherapy, other writing treatments, and waiting list control for adult trauma survivors: a systematic review and network meta-analysis

et al. 2021

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Background Expressive writing about a traumatic event is promising in treating posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms in adult trauma survivors. To date, the comparative efficacy and acceptability of this approach is uncertain. Therefore, we aimed to examine the comparative efficacy and acceptability of expressive writing treatments. Methods We included 44 RCTs with 7724 participants contributing 54 direct comparisons between expressive writing (EW), enhanced writing (i.e. including additional therapist contact or individualized writing assignments; EW+), PTSD psychotherapies (PT), neutral writing (NW), and waiting-list control (WL). Results EW, EW+, PT, and NW were statistically significantly more efficacious than WL at the longest available follow-up, with SMDs (95% CI) of −0.78 (−1.10 to −0.46) for PT, −0.81 (−1.02 to −0.61) for EW+ , −0.43 (−0.65 to −0.21) for EW, and −0.37 (−0.61 to −0.14) for NW. We found small to moderate differences between the active treatments. At baseline mean PTSD severity was significantly lower in EW+ compared with WL. We found considerable heterogeneity and inconsistency and we found elevated risk of bias in at least one of the bias dimensions in all studies. When EW+-WL comparisons were excluded from the analyses EW+ was no longer superior compared with EW. Conclusions The summarized evidence confirms that writing treatments may contribute to improving PTSD symptoms in medium to long-term. Methodological issues in the available evidence hamper definite conclusions regarding the comparative efficacy and acceptability of writing treatments. Adequately sized comparative randomized controlled trials preferably including all four active treatment approaches, reporting long-term data, and including researchers with balanced preferences are needed.

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“…Although first‐person expressive writing has been linked to diverse gains in health and well‐being, effect sizes range from null to small to moderate (e.g. Andersson & Conley, ; Frattaroli, ; Pennebaker & Beall, ; Pennebaker, Mayne, & Francis, ).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Optimizing the Perceived Benefits and Health Outcomes of Writing about Traumatic Life Events

Andersson

Conley

2012

Stress and Health

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Expressive writing, which involves disclosing one's deepest thoughts and feelings about a stressful life event by using a first-person perspective, has been linked to gains in health and well-being, though effect sizes range widely. Assuming a third-person perspective is a natural and effective way of coping with highly distressing events. Therefore, the current study examined whether a distanced, third-person approach to expressive writing might be more beneficial than a traditional, first-person intervention for high baseline levels of event-linked intrusive thinking. Randomly assigned participants wrote expressively about traumatic life events by using a first-person or third-person-singular perspective. Linguistic analyses showed that assuming a first-person perspective is linked to higher levels of in-text cognitive engagement, whereas a third-person perspective is linked to lower cognitive engagement. However, in a context of higher levels of intrusive thinking, third-person expressive writing, relative to a traditional first-person approach, yielded (1) greater perceived benefits and positive, long-lasting effects as well as (2) fewer days of activity restriction due to illness. Although more research is needed, these results suggest that third-person expressive writing may be an especially fitting technique for recovering from traumatic or highly stressful life events.

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Expecting to heal through self-expression: a perceived control theory of writing and health

Cited by 26 publications

References 201 publications

Sleep, self‐regulation, self‐control and health

Sleep, self‐regulation, self‐control and health

Comparative efficacy and acceptability of expressive writing treatments compared with psychotherapy, other writing treatments, and waiting list control for adult trauma survivors: a systematic review and network meta-analysis

Optimizing the Perceived Benefits and Health Outcomes of Writing about Traumatic Life Events

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