Reducing depressive symptoms and increasing positive feelings with expressive writing

Abstract

This experimental study examined the effect of expressive writing on depressive symptoms. 86 undergraduate students were recruited from a private university to perform online positive experience writing (PEW) (n=31), negative experience (NEW) (n=32) and control topic (CW) (n=23) for three sessions in three consecutive weeks. The depressive symptoms of participants were measured at pre-treatment and post-treatment. It was hypothesized that PEW has significant greater reduction in depressive symptoms compared to NEW and CW based on broaden and build model. Nevertheless, results showed that PEW had significantly greater symptoms reduction than CW, yet there was no significant difference between PEW and NEW. The findings suggested that PEW might be potentially useful in reducing depressive symptoms among undergraduates.

Expressive writing during the COVID-19 pandemic: themes of mixed expressive writing

“…This may allow future studies in expressive writing to not only evaluate the content but also investigate the effectiveness of expressive writing in affecting one's selfefficacy, gratitude, well-being, and life satisfaction. As expressively writing positive experiences was considered as an effective way to reduce anxiety and depression [10], [33], it is proposed that the themes disclosed in this study can be suggested to be written daily for individuals during the pandemic to protect them from having symptoms for anxiety and depression.…”

“…Most of the studies on expressive writing were conducted quantitatively, focusing on evaluating the effectiveness in reducing depressive symptoms [8]- [10]. Less attention was emphasized on qualitative studies that focus on the content of the writings, as past qualitative studies tend to focus on the recurrent themes of specific topics.…”

“…These disruptions could trigger negative emotions such as hopelessness and loneliness that ultimately contribute to high rates of anxiety and depression [15]. It was reported that expressive writing was effective in reducing depression symptoms during the pandemic situation [16], especially among participants who were instructed to write positive experiences [10]. Nevertheless, no report has been made on the content of the participants' writing.…”

The promotion of functional expected teaching-related emotions through expressive writing

“…Expressively writing about positive experiences can enhance positive mood [ 14 ], reduce depression and perceived stress reactivity [ 15 ], lead to better subjective well-being [ 16 ], can promote physical and psychological health benefits [ 17 , 18 ], and reduce teachers’ anxiety [ 19 ]. In particular, there is even some evidence that writing about positive experiences may be more beneficial for overall well-being than writing about negative experiences [ 20 , 21 ], although there are also contradictory findings [ 22 ].…”

The perk of writing: How expressive writing reduces depressive symptoms

“…Additionally, practising expressive writing leads to improved physiological and emotional well-being in both clinical and non-clinical individuals [20], [21]. In the context of Malaysian population, expressive writing, particularly positive experience writing, has been reported to significantly reduce depression symptoms such as melancholy and energy loss [22].…”