Effects of emotional disclosure on psychological and physiological outcomes in patients with rheumatoid arthritis: an exploratory home-based study.
The effects of an exploratory, home-based emotional disclosure intervention on psychological and physiological outcomes were assessed in patients with rheumatoid arthritis. Patients were randomly assigned to a disclosure group (n = 19) in which they wrote/talked about traumatic personal experiences, or to a control group (n = 15) in which they wrote/talked about the events of a particular day. Participants undertook these tasks for periods of 20 minutes on 4 consecutive days. The disclosure group demonstrated increases in negative mood and objective markers of disease activity at 1 week post-intervention. However, there were significant trends for the disclosure group to demonstrate minor improvements in mood and stability in disease activity, compared with the control group. These group differences appeared to be due to deteriorations in the control group more than improvements in the disclosure group.
Wetherell
Mark A
MA
MRC Health Services Research Colloboration, Canynge Hall, University of Bristol, Whiteladies Road, Clifton, Bristol, BS8 2PR, UK.
Byrne-Davis
Lucie
L
Dieppe
Paul
P
Donovan
Jenny
J
Brookes
Sara
S
Byron
Margaret
M
Vedhara
Kavita
K
Horne
Robert
R
Weinman
John
J
Miles
Jeremy
J
D000203:Activities of Daily Living / Q000523:psychology; D000339:Affect; D001172:Arthritis, Rheumatoid / Q000523:psychology*; D003863:Depression / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000209:etiology / Q000523:psychology; D004185:Disability Evaluation; D030881:Disclosure; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008016:Life Change Events; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged