The Effects of Expressive Writing on Postpartum Depression and Posttraumatic Stress Symptoms

Blasio, Paola Di; Camisasca, Elena; Caravita, Simona Carla Silvia; Ionio, Chiara; Milani, Luca; Valtolina, Giovanni Giulio

doi:10.2466/02.13.pr0.117c29z3

Cited by 54 publications

(56 citation statements)

References 85 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Unclassified

Order By: Relevance

“…In this regard, though the effect of VED on the sequels of the traumatic experience was limited, it seems to reduce depressive symptoms. As reported in other research studies about the benefits of emotional disclosure in psychological functioning and physical health, the adolescents who talked to someone about their traumatic experience showed a reduction of depressive symptoms (Peñate et al, 2010; Baikie et al, 2012; Ironson et al, 2013; Lumley et al, 2014; Blasio et al, 2015; Travagin et al, 2015; Del Pino et al, 2016). …”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 57%

Verbal Emotional Disclosure of Traumatic Experiences in Adolescents: The Role of Social Risk Factors

et al. 2017

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

It is well-known that traumatic events and adverse life situations are very important in both physical and psychological health. Prevalence studies suggested that adolescents experience at least one potentially traumatic event before reaching age 18. The paradigm of research centered on expressive writing has evidenced the beneficial effects that the emotional disclosure of previous traumas produces on physical health and psychological adjustment. The aims of the study are threefold: determining the prevalence of adverse or traumatic events; examining the extent to which psychopathological symptoms developed in those exposed to traumatic events; and exploring an verbal emotional disclosure (VED) paradigm in which variations on time spent talking about traumatic experiences to others resulted in a reduction of the psychological impact of trauma in a sample of Spanish adolescents. 422 volunteer adolescents participated, 226 boys and 192 girls, from 10 to 19 years old, all of them living in Tenerife. The mean age was 14.8 years (SD = 1.83). All of them completed the instruments used to assess the psychological impact of traumatic experiences and VED. The main results indicated that 77% of the participants had suffered a traumatic situation. The participants who have been exposed to traumatic events scored significantly higher in measures of post-traumatic stress, disorder, intrusive thoughts, avoidance behaviors, anxiety and depression, compared to those without trauma. Furthermore, results show a decrease in symptomatology scores as a function of time spent disclosing emotional experiences to others, particularly when disclosure occurred several times. In conclusion, stressful events or traumatic experiences and their concomitant emotional effects are highly prevalent in adolescents, and repeated VED to others appears to ameliorate their impact. VED shows greater therapeutic benefits when adolescents narrate the experience on several occasions and in an extensive way.

show abstract

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 57%

Verbal Emotional Disclosure of Traumatic Experiences in Adolescents: The Role of Social Risk Factors

et al. 2017

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Of the 13 included articles, 12 were randomized controlled trials and one was a case control study (43; see Table for levels of evidence and details of each study).…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The interventions were debriefing , encouraging skin‐to‐skin contact and immediate breastfeeding postpartum , encouraging mothers of a stillborn baby to see and hold the baby , expressive writing tasks and several different structured psychological interventions ().…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Preventing post‐traumatic stress disorder following childbirth and traumatic birth experiences: a systematic review

Graaff

Honig

Pampus

et al. 2018

Acta Obstet Gynecol Scand

128

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…This intervention may also have the effect of aiding a woman's relationship with her newborn, although this was not measured by the study. Two studies used reflective writing to describe deep emotions associated with the birth to reform the memory of the event and decrease conflicting emotions or expectations . These studies recruited a general population of pregnant women prenatally.…”

Section: Mixed‐research Synthesis On Posttraumatic Birth May Point Tomentioning

confidence: 99%

Current Resources for Evidence‐Based Practice, September/October 2019

Barger

2019

J Midwife Womens Health

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

MIXED-RESEARCH SYNTHESIS ON POSTTRAUMATIC BIRTH MAY POINT TO POTENTIAL INTERVENTIONSStudying the effects of traumatic birth on women and their lives can be difficult because birth trauma is defined by the person who experiences it. Perinatal care providers, who see a range of birth experiences daily, may not perceive a particular birth for a particular family as traumatic. It is clear that studying a complex phenomenon, such as traumatic birth stress, benefits from both qualitative and quantitative research methods.Additionally, an individual may experience posttraumatic stress symptoms that do not necessarily meet the criteria for posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), and, unfortunately, the 2 concepts may not be clearly differentiated in research studies. The prevalence of PTSD is around 4% in general community samples of postpartum women and is much greater (18%) in women at higher risk for PTSD, according to a recent meta-analysis of 25 studies. 1 Presumably, the number of women with posttraumatic stress symptoms is much higher.Beck and Casavant set out in this synthesis of studies using both quantitative and qualitative approaches to more deeply understand what we know about the effect of traumatic birth on women having term births. 2 They rigorously used mixedresearch synthesis methods with the aim of the narrative analysis of both quantitative and qualitative studies providing new theoretical insights to understanding the mechanisms of studied interventions. 3 For this synthesis, they identified 59 studies (55 quantitative and 4 qualitative) meeting their criteria (eg, participants had term births of living newborns not in the neonatal intensive care unit; studies were not focused on fathers' experiences or intimate partner violence). The synthesis focused on 4 questions: 1) prevalence of posttraumatic symptoms after a traumatic birth, 2) risk factors for posttraumatic stress symptoms, 3) the lived experience of women with symptoms, and 4) interventions that have been tested to decrease posttraumatic symptoms. The quality appraisal rating for the studies could range from 0 to 10 or 12, depending on study type; scores were mostly 9 to 11, with 2 studies rated as 7 and one as 8.There were 19 quantitative studies among 12 different countries examining prevalence and risk factors for posttraumatic stress after traumatic birth, of which 17 studies were among 7206 lower-risk women. It was difficult to identify a prevalence of posttraumatic stress symptoms because of the Hahn School of Nursing and Health Science, Beyster Institute for Nursing Research, University of San Diego, San Diego, California.studies' use of 15 different instruments to measure stress and a wide range of timing of posttraumatic stress assessment, from 24 to 48 hours to 10 years later. Multiple studies in the United States, Belgium, and Japan found rates of around 20% measured at one week to one month postpartum. A smaller number of studies made the diagnosis of PTSD, which ranged between 2.4% at 4 weeks and 17% at 6 weeks postpartum.The pred...

show abstract

The Effects of Expressive Writing on Postpartum Depression and Posttraumatic Stress Symptoms

Cited by 54 publications

References 85 publications

Verbal Emotional Disclosure of Traumatic Experiences in Adolescents: The Role of Social Risk Factors

Verbal Emotional Disclosure of Traumatic Experiences in Adolescents: The Role of Social Risk Factors

Preventing post‐traumatic stress disorder following childbirth and traumatic birth experiences: a systematic review

Current Resources for Evidence‐Based Practice, September/October 2019

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About