Writing Off Illness

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.

While earlier studies have shown that writing can relieve tension
and boost immune function, this is the first to suggest that writing
about stressful experiences can alleviate the physical symptoms of
diseases. Says Smyth: "Now, we can affect the body's diseases through the
mind."