Research on the effects of expressive writing consistently shows improved health and well-being outcomes. This study expands Pennebaker’s (1997) expressive writing paradigm. Results indicate that heart rate, respiration, and vagal tone improved over time.
As in Pennebaker’s original writing paradigm, study participants complete three 15-minute writing sessions, for which they are instructed to write about emotional events or neutral topics. Those assigned to the emotional writing condition typically display physical and psychological health improvements compared to the control condition.
This study expands Pennebaker’s paradigm to include a positive reframing (meaning-making) condition where subjects are asked to reframe an emotional experience in positive terms. A second major difference is that our study assesses physiological responses (e.g., heart rate, vagal tone) during the writing sessions. The independent variable is the writing condition (neutral, emotional, meaning-making). Additional variables include subject variables such as readiness to “talk” about the event, pre-processing of the emotional experience, emotional self-regulation skills, and social support.
Additional information can be found on the poster our team presented at the Association for Psychological Science annual conference in 2013, posted below (click on the image to see a larger version).
An article summarizing the research by James Pennebaker which inspired our current study can be found here.
