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

Abstract

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.

Ongoing life stressors and suicidal ideation among HIV-infected adults with depression

“…Efforts to reduce exposure to STLEs or to improve individuals’ skills for coping with STLEs could therefore help reduce SI and improve psychological wellbeing. Studies have shown that interventions aimed at improving depression care and initiating expressive writing about STLEs were associated with fewer STLEs 39 and improved health and quality of life, 40 respectively. Other interventions focused on reducing the incidence of STLEs and developing skills to cope with STLEs could be developed for HIV-infected populations, which independently of STLEs are also more prone to depression and therefore to SI.…”

The Maudsley Model of Anorexia Nervosa Treatment for Adults (MANTRA): Development, Key Features, and Preliminary Evidence

“…There is a large and sound body of research supporting the use of writing either about traumatic or negative life events and conflicts or about hopes, aspirations, needs, and wished-for outcomes as a tool for processing these inner events and with benefits in a range of areas, including improved psychosocial and physical outcomes (e.g., see Pennebaker, 2004;Wade & Schmidt, 2009). Recent studies suggest that taking different perspectives in writing may be helpful (Andersson & Conley, 2013) and that writing may be helpful for coming to terms with ambivalence (Kelly, Wood, Shearman, Phillips, & Mansell, 2012).…”

Narrative perspective shift at retrieval: The psychological-distance-mediated-effect on emotional intensity of positive and negative autobiographical memory

“…Because in the present study we showed a significant association between the narrative perspectives used to narrate a memory and the visual perspectives experienced during retrieval, how the memory was appraised and related to the self-concept would presumably modulate the effect of manipulated narrative perspective on emotional intensity. However, unlike Andersson and Conley (2013) who instructed the participants to narrate very stressful or traumatic autobiographical events that still influenced their current life (i.e., as a source of threat to self-concept), the autobiographical events that our participants reported were diverse in emotional experiences and not necessarily appraised as a source of threat or enhancement to self-concept. This may also explain why in the first session participants with 3rd-person narrative perspective did not report a lower negative emotion or higher positive emotion for their autobiographical memories than those with the 1st-person narrative perspective.…”

“…Hence, the narrative perspective shift from 1st-to 3rd-person, rather than the manipulated 3rd-person narrative perspective, may be more critical in reducing the emotional intensity of autobiographical memory. However, Andersson and Conley (2013) instructed participants to write down a ''traumatic or very stressful life event that still affected their life to some degree" and narrate it in either the 1st-or 3rd-personal pronoun. They found that when participants showed higher levels of intrusive thinking (i.e., felt more intense emotion toward the events), those who recalled in the 3rd-person perspective considered the writing intervention more valuable and meaningful than those who recalled in the 1st-person perspective.…”