Health effects of emotional disclosure in rheumatoid arthritis patients.

This study examined the effects of emotional disclosure of stressful events on the pain, physical and affective dysfunction, and joint condition of patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA). Patients were randomly assigned to talk privately about stressful events (disclosure group, n?=?36) or about trivial topics (control group, n?=?36) for 4 consecutive days. Disclosure resulted in immediate increases in negative mood. At 2 weeks the 2 groups did not differ on any health measure, but at 3 months disclosure patients had less affective disturbance and better physical functioning in daily activities. There was no main effect of disclosure on pain or joint condition, but among the disclosure patients, those who experienced larger increases in negative mood after talking demonstrated improvements in the condition of their joints. This study concludes that, among RA patients, verbal disclosure and emotional processing of stressful life events induces an immediate negative mood followed by improved psychological functioning. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Effects of talking about a stressful event on arousal: Does what we talk about make a difference?

In Study 1, 30 male and 30 female undergraduates viewed an affect-neutral stimulus and a stress-inducing stimulus. Ss then talked about either their emotional reactions to the stressful stimulus (emotion condition), the sequence of events within it (fact condition), or the sequence of events within the neutral stimulus (distraction condition). Emotion-condition Ss were more autonomically aroused during a 2nd exposure to the stressful stimulus than were fact-condition Ss. In Study 2, 48 hrs separated Ss' talking about their 1st exposure to the stressful stimulus from their 2nd exposure to it. Emotion-condition Ss had lower levels of autonomic arousal while viewing the stimulus again and reported more positive affect after watching it than did fact-condition Ss. These results are discussed in the context of cognitive appraisal, perceptual-motor, and self-disclosure views of emotion. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Expressive writing can increase working memory capacity.

The effect of emotional disclosure through expressive writing on available working memory (WM) capacity was examined in 2 semester-long experiments. In the first study, 35 freshmen assigned to write about their thoughts and feelings about coming to college demonstrated larger working memory gains 7 weeks later compared with 36 writers assigned to a trivial topic. Increased use of cause and insight words was associated with greater WM improvements. In the second study, students (n?=?34) who wrote about a negative personal experience enjoyed greater WM improvements and declines in intrusive thinking compared with students who wrote about a positive experience (n?=?33) or a trivial topic (n?=?34). The results are discussed in terms of a model grounded in cognitive and social psychological theory in which expressive writing reduces intrusive and avoidant thinking about a stressful experience, thus freeing WM resources. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Emotional impact of videotape and reenacted feedback on subjects with high and low defenses.

A group of 40 high and low defensive college students were given reenacted videotape and videotape feedback of an earlier stressful interview. Defensiveness was based upon the L and K scores from the MMPI. The stress interview was reenacted by having an actor or actress portray the earlier interview performance. The Ss rated the emotional impact of the experience 5 times during the feedback interview and again at its conclusion. All Ss had more negative feelings when viewing actor/actress self-portrayals. Low defensive Ss viewed both themselves and the actor/actress portrayals more negatively than did high defensive Ss. Many of the low defensive Ss still had negative feelings after viewing themselves, whereas none of the high defensive Ss did. (25 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Effects of disclosure of traumatic events on illness behavior among psychiatric prison inmates.

To assess the health effects of writing about traumatic events in a clinical population, 98 psychiatric prison inmates were randomly assigned to 1 of 3 conditions in which they were asked to write about their deepest thoughts and feelings surrounding upsetting experiences (trauma writing condition), write about trivial topics (trivial writing control), or go about their daily routine without writing (no-writing control). Both writing groups wrote for 20 min per day for 3 consecutive days. Participants in the trauma condition reported experiencing more physical symptoms subsequent to the intervention relative to those in the other conditions. Despite this, controlling for prewriting infirmary visits, sex offenders in the trauma writing condition decreased their postwriting infirmary visits. These results are congruent with predictions based on stigmatization and inhibition. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Emotional expression and physical heath: Revising traumatic memories or fostering self-regulation?

Health benefits derived from personal trauma disclosure are well established. This study examined whether disclosing emotions generated by imaginative immersion in a novel traumatic event would similarly enhance health and adjustment. College women, preselected for trauma presence, were randomly assigned to write about real traumas, imaginary traumas, or trivial events. Yoked real-trauma and imaginary-trauma participants wrote about real-trauma participants' experiences. Imaginary-trauma participants were significantly less depressed than real-trauma participants at immediate posttest, but they were similarly angry, fearful, and happy. Compared with control group participants, both trauma groups made significantly fewer illness visits at 1-month follow-up: however, real-trauma participants reported more fatigue and avoidance than did the other groups. Imaginary-trauma group effects could reflect catharsis, emotional regulation, or construction of resilient possible selves. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Further Examination of the Exposure Model Underlying the Efficacy of Written Emotional Disclosure.

In the current study, the authors examined the effects of systematically varying the writing instructions for the written emotional disclosure procedure. College undergraduates with a trauma history and at least moderate posttraumatic stress symptoms were asked to write about (a) the same traumatic experience, (b) different traumatic experiences, or (c) nontraumatic everyday events across 3 written disclosure sessions. Results show that participants who wrote about the same traumatic experience reported significant reductions in psychological and physical symptoms at follow-up assessments compared with other participants. These findings suggest that written emotional disclosure may be most effective when individuals are instructed to write about the same traumatic or stressful event at each writing session, a finding consistent with exposure-based treatments. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Behavioral manifestations of social support: A microanalytic investigation.

Examined the specific interpersonal behaviors that convey support from one person to another, the types of interpersonal experiences that characterize individuals who report high vs low levels of social support, and the effectiveness of a range of helping behaviors in preventing depressive reactions to stressful events. 41 undergraduates completed a general measure of perceived social support and kept daily records of their social interactions and stressful experiences for 14 days. They also completed the Depression Adjective Check Lists each day. Results show that behaviors reflecting emotional support and informational support occurred as a specific response to stressful life events. Although esteem support was expressed with equal frequency in the presence and absence of stress, it was especially effective in preventing depressive reactions to stressful events. Ss who perceived themselves as having high levels of social support were more frequently the recipients of helping behaviors following stressful events than those low in perceived support. Perceived social support was only predictive of helping behaviors on days on which at least 1 stressful event occurred. The total number of helping behaviors received following stressful events was a significant negative predictor of level of depressive mood, although 1 helping behavior (frequency of confiding) was associated with higher levels of depression. Results are interpreted in terms of the buffering model of social support. (36 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Effects of social approval on the verbal behavior of emotionally disturbed and normal children.

96 nondefective Ss in Grades 4-9 who were referred to a child psychiatric clinic were compared with a group of 120 public school Ss of similar intellectual and educational level in terms of their response to a Taffel-type verbal conditioning procedure. 1/2 of the Ss in each group were experimental, to whom E said "good" following their use of a 1st-person pronoun, and 1/2 were controls, to whom E made no verbal response. Normal experimental Ss showed a statistically significant increase in their usage of the reinforced words, while clinic experimental Ss, as a group, failed to show a significant increase in such usage. Verbal approval was shown to have a differential effect depending upon the S's emotional status. In neither group did grade level have an effect upon rate of conditioning. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Effects of written emotional expression: The role of positive expectancies.

Objective: Writing in an emotional way about stressful or traumatic experiences has beneficial effects on emotional well-being and physical health. Yet the mechanisms that underlie these effects still need to be explored. Integrating research on the effects of positive expectancies, the authors suggest that positive effects of written emotional expression may, in part, depend on expectancies induced by writing about emotional experiences. Design: Two studies were conducted to test this hypothesis. In both studies, participants wrote about either an upsetting event or trivial issues. After the writing period, participants rated their expectancies that the writing intervention would improve (or impair) their emotional well-being over time. Main Outcome Measures: Study 1 assessed the emotional impact of an upsetting event, whereas Study 2 assessed subjective reports of physical symptoms. In both studies, outcome variables were collected both before and 6 weeks after the writing intervention. Results: The results showed that (a) writing about upsetting experiences induced higher positive expectancies than writing about trivial issues and (b) expectancies associated with written emotional expression were related to a reduction in the emotional impact of an upsetting event (Study 1) and to a reduction in physical symptoms (Study 2). Conclusions: There may be 2 alternative ways to render written emotional expression effective in reducing negative emotions: (a) by rendering an emotional experience more meaningful and (b) by inducing positive affect regulation expectancies. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Stressful life events, personality, and health: An inquiry into hardiness.

Studied personality as a conditioner of the effects of stressful life events on illness onset. Two groups of middle- and upper-level 40–49 yr old executives had comparably high degrees of stressful life events in the previous 3 yrs, as measured by the Schedule of Recent Events. One group of 86 Ss suffered high stress without falling ill, whereas the other group of 75 Ss reported becoming sick after their encounter with stressful life events. Illness was measured by the Seriousness of Illness Survey (A. R. Wyler et al 1970). Discriminant function analysis, run on half of the Ss in each group and cross-validated on the remaining cases, supported the prediction that high stress/low illness executives show, by comparison with high stress/high illness executives, more hardiness, that is, have a stronger commitment to self, an attitude of vigorousness toward the environment, a sense of meaningfulness, and an internal locus of control. (43 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Expressive writing for gay-related stress: Psychosocial benefits and mechanisms underlying improvement.

Objective: This study tested the effectiveness of an expressive writing intervention for gay men on outcomes related to psychosocial functioning. Method: Seventy-seven gay male college students (mean age = 20.19 years, SD = 1.99) were randomly assigned to write for 20 min a day for 3 consecutive days about either (a) the most stressful or traumatic gay-related event in their lives or (b) a neutral topic. We tested an exposure-based hypothesis of written emotional expression by asking half of the participants who were assigned to write about gay-related stress to read their previous day’s narrative before writing, whereas the other half did not. Posttest and 3-month follow-up outcomes were assessed with common measures of overall psychological distress, depression, physical health symptoms, and positive and negative affect. Gay-specific social functioning was assessed with measures of gay-related rejection sensitivity, gay-specific self-esteem, and items regarding openness and comfort with one’s sexual orientation. Results: Participants who wrote about gay-related stress, regardless of whether they read their previous day’s writing, reported significantly greater openness with their sexual orientation 3 months following writing than participants who wrote about a neutral topic, F(1, 74) = 6.66, p     

Verbal conditioning of value-related material.

Studied verbal conditioning as a function of the interaction between content of stimulus material and S's personal value orientation. 2 groups of 20 undergraduates each were conditioned to select words either consistent or inconsistent with their value orientations as measured by the Allport-Vernon-Lindzey Study of Values. 20 additional Ss were conditioned to select words unrelated to values. As predicted, those Ss conditioned to select words consistent with their value orientations produced a steeper acquisition curve than those Ss conditioned to select inconsistent words. However, there was no difference between the acquisition curves of the former group and the control group. Results are related to verbal conditioning in psychotherapy. It is suggested that the therapist who plans to use such a tool should consider the personal and relational aspects of the therapeutic process as important determinants of conditionability. (15 ref.) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

A verbal response model of assertiveness.

Investigated the effect of a verbal response model of assertiveness with 25 nonassertive female nursing students (mean age, 26 yrs). The model is composed of 3 verbal components presented in a systematic training program. Ss were randomly assigned to 3 groups: the assertive training group, the attention control group, and the no-treatment control group. The assertive training group learned and practiced the model. All groups were posttested on the College Self-Expression Scale, on responses to written situations, and on 2 scores of a videotape role-playing situation. Significant differences were found between the assertive training group and the attention control group and between the assertive training group and the no-treatment control group, but not between the attention control and the no-treatment control groups. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Effects of material incentives on classroom learning over a four-week period.

Assessed the effects of material incentives on the learning of spelling words in typical classrooms over a 4-wk period. 14 4th grade classes with a total of 330 students participated. Seven classes were randomly assigned to a material incentive condition, and 7 to a normal, or social incentive, condition. Classroom means were used as the unit of analysis. Ss who were offered material incentives learned significantly more spelling words than did Ss not offered material rewards. Ss in the material incentive condition learned an average of about 61/2 new words during each week's lessons; Ss who were offered only social incentives learned an average of about 3 new words during each week. The substantial effects of the material incentives continued throughout the 4 wks. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Conceptual level matching and effects of assertion training.

36 unassertive women (aged 20–52 yrs), assessed through Quick Test scores as high or low on conceptual level (CL), were randomly assigned to high-structure-behavioral or low-structure-cognitive forms of assertion training (AT). Low-CL Ss who received the "matched," high-structure AT were expected to make greater gains in assertiveness and to report more satisfaction with counseling than were Ss who received the "mismatched," low-structure AT. High-CL Ss in the matched, low-structure condition were expected to gain more benefit from AT and to express more satisfaction with counseling than were high-CL Ss in the mismatched, high-structure condition. After 4 2-hr sessions of AT, low-CL Ss in the matched condition showed more improvement in assertiveness of verbal responses and evaluated the counselor as more expert and trustworthy than did low-CL Ss in mismatched condition. No matching effects were found with high-CL Ss. (38 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)