Expressive writing intervention for adolescents' somatic symptoms and mood.
The effects of a widely used expressive writing intervention on adolescents' somatic symptoms, distress, and positive psychological functioning were evaluated. Eighth-grade (n=106) students were randomly assigned to write about either an emotional or a neutral topic for 3 consecutive days. Students completed measures of somatic symptoms, medical visits, distress, and positive functioning at baseline, postintervention, and 2 and 6 weeks later. Somatic symptoms and medical visits were unchanged as a result of the intervention. However, significant Time Condition effects indicated that optimism scores increased, negative-affect scores decreased, and positive-affect words in student essays increased in the experimental condition. Expressive writing shows promise as a cost-efficient intervention to address the emotional concerns of young adolescents; further work with clinical populations may lead to even more robust results.
Soliday
Elizabeth
E
Department of Psychology, Washington State University at Vancouver, 98696, USA. soliday@vancouver.wsu.edu
Garofalo
John P
JP
Rogers
Debra
D
D000293:Adolescent; D000339:Affect; D003863:Depression / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000523:psychology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D019964:Mood Disorders / Q000523:psychology / Q000628:therapy*; D009819:Office Visits / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D013001:Somatoform Disorders / Q000523:psychology / Q000628:therapy*; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D014956:Writing