Scribbling in a journal to vent your frustrations may make you feel better--literally.
A study conducted by North Dakota State University psychology professor Joshua Smyth, Ph.D, and colleagues from State University of New York at Stonybrook, shows that writing about a stressful experience reduces physical symptoms in patients with chronic illnesses.
Smyth and his team monitored 112 patients with arthritis or asthma. The subjects were asked to write in a journal for 20 minutes three days in a row about either an emotionally stressful incident or their plans for the day. Of the group who got to express their anxiety on paper, 50% showed a large improvement in their disease after four months. Only 25% of patients who wrote on neutral topics showed any relief of symptoms.
It is more therapeutic to write about traumatic events than everyday occurrences because "traumatic memories are less linguistic and more emotional," says Smyth. "When they are experienced again through writing, they cause a physiological reaction"--and can thus improve the physiological symptoms of illness.
