Writing about the Perceived Benefits of Traumatic Events: Implications for Physical Health

Abstract

Research by Pennebaker and his colleagues supports the healing power of writing about traumatic events. This study explored the importance of writing about the perceived benefits of traumatic events as a factor in this process. The study included 118 participants who were randomly assigned to write about one of four topics in a 2 (writing about perceived benefits vs. not writing about perceived benefits)× 2 (writing about trauma vs. not writing about trauma) factorial design. Participants also completed questionnaire measures of subjective well-being and released health center information for the year. Participants who wrote only about trauma or perceived benefits showed significantly fewer health center visits for illness 3 months after writing. In addition, 5 months after writing, the trauma-only and perceived-benefits-only groups maintained a difference from the control group. These results suggest that writing about perceived benefits from traumatic events may provide a less upsetting but effective way to benefit from writing.

Written Emotional Expression and Emotional Well-Being: The Moderating Role of Fear of Rejection

“…On average, the self-defining memories reported by our participants were both positive and negative, which resonates with the finding that individuals who benefit from emotional expression tend to use both positive and negative emotion words in their writing (e.g., Pennebaker & Francis, 1996). Also, King and Miner (2000) found that writing about the positive aspects of highly upsetting experiences is associated with better physical health in the following 5 months. Thus, it does not seem necessary to focus exclusively on negative aspects of emotional experiences for positive effects of emotional expression to occur.…”

“…In sum, these findings suggest that individuals high in fear of rejection benefit from written emotional expression by gaining a new understanding of emotional experiences, thereby promoting general self-regulatory processes (Greenberg, Wortman, & Stone, 1996;King & Miner, 2000). In our view, written emotional expression is an intentional strategy that may serve to compensate for a lack of perceived social support typically experienced by individuals high in fear of rejection.…”

Does Altering the Writing Instructions Influence Outcome Associated With Written Disclosure?

“…For this reason, it is important for investigators to continue to address questions pertaining to the underlying mechanisms of written disclosure and alterations to the written disclosure protocol that are appropriate for specific populations. The findings obtained using one particular sample may not be replicated with a different sample of participants.The findings from this study, as well as the findings from other studies (e.g., King & Miner, 2000;Sloan et al, 2005;Stanton et al, 2002), suggest that altering the writing instructions has important implications for outcome. However, there are a number of other methodological aspects of the written disclosure procedure that should also be examined.…”

“…For example, Stanton et al (2002) and King and Miner (2000) studies included several deviations from the standard protocol and only used a measure of current mood to assess psychological change. Findings from King and Miner (2000) are also difficult to interpret as the group instructed to write about the perceived benefits of their traumatic experiences reported as much distress and used as many negative affect words in their writing as the group that wrote about their traumatic experiences using the standard instructional set. Other researchers have suggested that written disclosure instructions that emphasize emotional expression might be particularly important in producing beneficial outcome (e.g., Bootzin, 1997;Sloan & Marx, 2004a).…”

Virtual agent-mediated appraisal training: a single case series among Dutch firefighters

“…Writing and reflecting about traumatic events can have various benefits (Pennebaker, 1997), including physical (King & Miner, 2000) and cognitive (Hemenover, 2003; Park & Blumberg, 2002) benefits. Building on these findings, we propose a reappraisal training that focuses on writing (i.e.…”