Writing Out Feelings Helps, But Not for Asthma
Although expressing ones emotions through writing has numerous documented health benefits, it appears to do little to ease asthma, new study findings show.
This research contradicts an earlier, but smaller, study that found that people with asthma breathed more easily after writing about stressful experiences than after writing about neutral subjects.
However, in the latest report in the journal Psychosomatic Medicine, Dr. Alex H. S. Harris and his colleagues found that asthmatics showed no noticeable improvement after writing about stressful feelings.
Dr. John Grohol is the CEO and founder of Psych Central. He is an author, researcher and expert in mental health online, and has been writing about online behavior, mental health and psychology issues -- as well as the intersection of technology and human behavior -- since 1992. Dr. Grohol sits on the editorial board of the journal Cyberpsychology, Behavior and Social Networking and is a founding board member and treasurer of the Society for Participatory Medicine.Like this author?
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Last reviewed: By John M. Grohol, Psy.D. on 18 Feb 2005
Published on PsychCentral.com. All rights reserved.
Grohol, J. (2005). Writing Out Feelings Helps, But Not for Asthma. Psych Central. Retrieved on February 14, 2012, from http://psychcentral.com/blog/archives/2005/02/18/writing-out-feelings-helps-but-not-for-asthma/
