Writing your Way to Health?: The Effects of Disclosure of Past Stressful Events in German Students.

In 1986 Pennebaker and Beall published their renowned study on the long-term beneficial health effects of disclosing traumatic events in 4 brief sequential writing sessions. Their results have been confirmed in various studies, but conflicting results have also been reported. The intent of our study was to replicate the experiments from Pennebaker and Beall (1986), Pennebaker et al. (1988), and Greenberg and Stone (1992) using a German student sample. Additionally, essay variables that point to the emotional processing of events (e.g., depth of self-exploration, number of negative/positive emotions, intensity of emotional expression) were examined as potential mechanisms of action. Trait measures of personality which could moderate the personal consequences of disclosure (alexithymia, self-concealment, worrying, social support) were also assessed. In a second study the experimental condition (disclosure) was varied by implementing 'coping' vs. 'helping' instructions as variations of the original condition. Under the coping condition participants were asked to elaborate on what they used to do, continue to do, or could do in the future to better cope with the event. Under the helping condition participants were asked to imagine themselves in the role of an adviser and elaborate on what they would recommend to persons also dealing with the trauma in order to better cope with the event. The expected beneficial effects of disclosure on long-term health (e.g., physician visits, physical symptoms, affectivity) could not be corroborated in either the first or the second study. None of the examined essay variables of emotional processing and only a single personality variable was able to explain significant variance in the health-related outcome variables influence. Nevertheless, substantial reductions in posttraumatic stress symptoms (e.g., intrusions, avoidance, arousal), were found in both experiments. These improvements were significantly related to essay variables of emotional expression and self-exploration and were particularly pronounced under the activation of a prosocial motivation (helping condition). Repeated, albeit brief, expressive writing about personally upsetting or traumatic events resulted in an immediate increase in negative mood but did not lead to long-term positive health consequences in a German student sample. It did, however, promote better processing of stressful or traumatic events, as evidenced by reductions in posttraumatic stress symptoms. The instruction to formulate recommendations for persons dealing with the same trauma seems more helpful than standard disclosure or focusing on one's own past, present, and future coping endeavours. Overall, expressive writing seems to be a successful method of improving trauma processing. Determining the appropriate setting (e.g., self-help vs. therapeutic context) for disclosure can be seen as an objective of future research. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2016 APA, all rights reserved)

Accession Number: 2006-22365-005. Partial author list: First Author & Affiliation: Morris, Lisette; Clinical Psychology and Psychotherapy, University of Gottingen, Gottingen, Germany. Release Date: 20070402. Correction Date: 20151116. Publication Type: Book (0200), Edited Book (0280). Format Covered: Print. Document Type: Chapter. ISBN: 1-60021-248-4, Hardcover; 978-1-60021-248-2, Hardcover. Language: English. Major Descriptor: Emotions; Experiences (Events); Self-Disclosure; Stress; Written Communication. Classification: Health & Mental Health Treatment & Prevention (3300). Population: Human (10); Male (30); Female (40). Location: Germany. Intended Audience: Psychology: Professional & Research (PS). Tests & Measures: Pennebaker Physical Symptom Scale; Pennebaker Negative Mood Scale; PTSD Symptom Scale; Self-Concealment Scale DOI: 10.1037/t33121-000; Pennebaker Inventory of Limbic Languidness DOI: 10.1037/t05558-000; Toronto Alexithymia Scale DOI: 10.1037/t10642-000; Penn State Worry Questionnaire DOI: 10.1037/t01760-000; Positive and Negative Affect Scale DOI: 10.1037/t06070-000; Social Support Questionnaire. Methodology: Empirical Study; Quantitative Study. References Available: Y. Page Count: 21.