The aim of this thesis is to introduce expressive writing, whose therapeutic potential was discovered in the 1980s by James W. Pennebaker, and explore the method closely in our own qualitative research. Presented thesis describes the origin, the process and the effects of expressive writing on various aspects of life, the conditions under which has the method the best therapeutic effect are discussed, and several variants of the intervention are also presented. The theoretical part is concluded with theories of functioning of expressive writing. The empirical part of the thesis is dedicated to the qualitative data analysis - nineteen university students were writing expressively into online forms in their natural environment for twenty minutes for four consecutive days according to instructions. The qualitative analysis deals with the content, thus the thematic analysis, as well as with the form of the collected writings. The students' common topics were especially relationships, university studies, and lack of free time. The participants often dealt with their own personality, somatic, mental and spiritual issues, and their solitude. The analysis distinguished five basic forms of writing and a couple of sub-tools. The main categories are finally viewed through the time perspective. In conclusion,...

In general education classrooms across the United States, students with Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) learn how to write and cultivate their writing skills. Teachers of students with ASD have the unique responsibility of carrying out effective instruction to all students. However, the growing body of research around evidence-based practices and approaches for students with ASD is limited. Two effective practices that have shown positive statistical significance for students with ASD are the self-regulated strategy development model (SRSD) and the social-emotional learning (SEL) framework. General education instruction faces a research-practice gap because of the widespread lack of strategy instruction and lack of evidence-based practices implemented in the classroom. The purpose was to design an integrated strategy instruction tool with an SEL framework, to provide potentially more feasible and equitable writing instruction for elementary students with ASD in general education classrooms. Therefore, a relationship skills themed expressive writing unit aligned with fifth grade language arts Florida State Standards was developed. Specifically, the researcher integrated the SRSD model into a five-day themed writing unit that teaches mnemonic writing strategies. The writing unit utilizes high-quality, SEL themed children's literature, cooperative learning practices, writing stations, and many formative assessment opportunities. In the future, the researcher's next step is to implement the writing unit in a general education classroom with a substantial ASD population to examine its efficacy and effectiveness. Hopefully, the feasibility of this innovative writing unit will decrease the research-practice gap that general education teachers face.

本研究では，実現可能な未来の自己像を構築することが自己制御を効果的に導くために重要であるという，自己制御モデルを提案し，モデルの妥当性ならびに実践的な応用への可能性について議論した。 / 博士(心理学) / Doctor of Philosophy in Psychology / 同志社大学 / Doshisha University

Patients with cancer transitioning from completing their final cancer treatments to survivorship are particularly at risk for experiencing psychosocial stress, and the Institute of Medicine (IOM) has referred to these cancer patients as “lost in transition.” In this study, patients with cancer in their transition phase after completing their final radiation treatment were defined as cancer survivors (CS). CS must deal with chronic stressors such as the fear of cancer recurrence as well as the resumption of their roles in their family and work lives. Chronic stress impacts the nervous system and increases secretion of stress hormones (e.g. cortisol) from the endocrine system, which in turn influences immune function. These systems are particularly relevant for CS since research has shown associations between abnormal cortisol patterns and increased mortality in breast CS and immune dysfunction in CS can increase susceptibility to infections. The theoretical framework of psychoneuroimmunology (PNI), which describes the interactions between the psychosocial, neuroendocrine and immune systems, guided the choice of outcomes for this study. The IOM has identified a lack of theory-driven interventions for managing psychosocial stress in CS. We reviewed the literature and identified two major types of PNI-based psychosocial interventions for cancer patients, namely cognitive-behavioral and complementary medical. One promising brief and inexpensive psychosocial intervention was expressive writing, which involved participants disclosing their deepest thoughts and feelings regarding their cancer in four 20-30 minute writing sessions over four consecutive days. We conducted a two-arm randomized controlled trial to determine the efficacy of an online expressive writing (EW) intervention delivered to CS who were 2-12 months post-radiation treatment completion. The results of this study revealed that EW was effective in regulating stress in our sample of CS over a period of six weeks as measured by lowered salivary cortisol levels and lowered self-reported fear of cancer recurrence. Online EW is a low-cost and convenient approach for delivering stress-management interventions for CS during survivorship. However, coordinated efforts are needed from health researchers, professionals and policy makers to define standardized approaches for testing psychosocial interventions and using PNI biomarkers to help develop evidence-based psychosocial cancer-care for CS during survivorship.

In an effort to connect women’s spiritual development to the general call for professors to reconnect significantly with their students, this dissertation argues that expressive writing should remain a staple of the composition curriculum. It suggests that the uses of expressive writing should be expanded and explored by students and professors of composition and that each should become familiar with the link between writing and emotional wellness. In cancer centers, schools of medicine, and pregnancy care centers, writing is being used as a tool of therapy. More than just a technique for helping people cope with the stresses of loss, pain, and abuse, teaching personal writing techniques enables writers to transfer their skill in writing narratives to other forms of writing, including the more traditional academic essay. By presenting interdisciplinary blending of composition and performance studies, the discussion introduces contemporary tools of writing that engage digital environments and digital storytelling techniques already familiar to students. An important highlight of the research, that allowing students to treat personal themes in the writing classroom boosts students’ overall academic performance, is a discussion relevant to professors outside of the English department. Spurred by the public health calls for intervention in the HIV and HPV spread on minority, tribal, and HBCU campuses, the essay also considers the appropriateness of offering the Life-Support Class (a mainstay of Pregnancy Care Centers) in campus clinics. The subject of emotion is treated in the essay in relation to women’s relationships on campus and the evasion and stigmatization of emotion among professors in the academic setting. Further, the essay highlights research which suggests that a fear of feminist retaliation interferes with campus psychologists’ recommendations for the best outcomes for sexual health. This dissertation follows the trend of feminist research methodology by explicitly exposing the author’s hopes and goals, which connect women’s spiritual formation to expressive writing.

No description available.

Expressive Writing (EW) involves writing in an emotionally expressive manner about an experienced event, and has been shown to be related to increases in psychological and physical well-being. The purpose of the current study was to extend previous work by examining how self-presentation affects psychological and physical gains following the EW task. Forty one participants who have experienced a traumatic event were recruited from the community and given either an EW or control activity. Measures assessing self-presentation and various indices of health were administered at baseline and again at one month follow-up to determine changes in symptomatology. Results indicated that higher levels of perfectionistic self-presentation were significantly associated with less improvement in symptoms of depression and posttraumatic stress. Further, a nonsignificant moderation trend emerged whereby higher levels of perfectionistic self-presentation were associated with more improvement in symptoms of depression and posttraumatic stress in the EW group but not control group.

Expressive Writing (EW) involves writing in an emotionally expressive manner about an experienced event, and has been shown to be related to increases in psychological and physical well-being. The purpose of the current study was to extend previous work by examining how self-presentation affects psychological and physical gains following the EW task. Forty one participants who have experienced a traumatic event were recruited from the community and given either an EW or control activity. Measures assessing self-presentation and various indices of health were administered at baseline and again at one month follow-up to determine changes in symptomatology. Results indicated that higher levels of perfectionistic self-presentation were significantly associated with less improvement in symptoms of depression and posttraumatic stress. Further, a nonsignificant moderation trend emerged whereby higher levels of perfectionistic self-presentation were associated with more improvement in symptoms of depression and posttraumatic stress in the EW group but not control group.

Tyrimo tikslas – nustatyti sergančių išemine širdies liga asmenų emocijų ir arterinio kraujo spaudimo kitimus taikant ekspresyvaus rašymo metodą psichosocialinės reabilitacijos metu. Tyrime dalyvavo 164 kardiologiniame skyriuje besigydantys pacientai. Keturių užsiėmimų kursą baigė 126 pacientai: 58 vyrai ir 68 moterys. Tiriamieji dalyvavo keturiuose 30 minučių trukmės užsiėmimuose. Užsiėmimai vyko keturias dienas iš eilės. Buvo siekiama įvertinti ekspresyvaus rašymo metodo veiksmingumą pacientų emocinės būsenos ir arterinio kraujo spaudimo kitimams. Buvo sudarytos trys tyrimo dalyvių grupės: a) ekspresyvaus rašymo grupė, kurios dalyviai rašė savo išgyvenimus susijusius su liga; b) neutralaus rašymo grupė, kurios dalyviai rašė apie kasdienę veiklą; c) lyginamoji grupė. Kiekvieno užsiėmimo pradžioje ir pabaigoje buvo matuojamas kraujo spaudimas. Pirmojo ir paskutiniojo užsiėmimų metu tiriamųjų buvo prašoma įvertinti savo emocinę būseną. Tyrimo rezultatai parodė, kad ekspresyvaus rašymo grupės dalyvių neigiamų emocijų pokytis buvo didesnis lyginant su neutralaus ir lyginamąja grupėmis. Ekspresyvaus rašymo grupėje „linksmumo“ pokyčiai didesni lyginant su lyginamąja grupe. Kitos teigiamos emocijos nesiskyrė tarp trijų tyrimo dalyvių grupių. Ekspresyvaus rašymo grupėje sistolinio AKS pokyčiai nėra didesni lyginant su neutralaus rašymo grupe, bet didesni lyginant su lyginamąja grupe. Diastolinio AKS pokyčiai nesiskyrė tarp trijų tyrimo dalyvių grupių. AKS mažėjimą nepaaiškina... [toliau žr. visą tekstą] / The aim of research – to determine the changes of emotions and arterial blood pressure of the patients with ischemic heart disease by applying the method of expressive writing during psychosocial rehabilitation. 164 patients of cardiology department participated in the survey. 126 patients ( 58 men and 68 women) completed the course of four session. The patients attended four 30 min meetings four days in a row. The goal was to evaluate the efficiency of expressive writing for the changes of emotions and arterial blood pressure. The patients were divided into three groups: a) a group of expressive writing, the participants of which wrote their experiences related to the disease b) neutral writing group, where the participants wrote about everyday activities; c) control group. At the beginning and at the end of each meeting their blood pressure was measured. The participants had to evaluate their emotional state during the first and the last meetings. The survey results showed that the change of negative emotions was higher in the participants of expressive writing than in the groups of neutral or control. The changes of „happiness“ were higher in expressive writing group than in control group. Other positive emotions did not differentiate among the groups. The changes of systolic blood pressure in expressive writing group were not higher than in the neutral group, but higher in comparison with control group. The changes of diastolic blood pressure did not differ among the... [to full text]

Il presente studio intervento randomizzato è stato condotto su 140 donne assegnate - a seguito del parto - alla condizione di scrittura espressiva (EW) o alla condizione di scrittura neutra non-emotiva (NW). L’obiettivo era indagare gli effetti della scrittura espressiva sull’esperienza del parto sia sul funzionamento psicologico – sintomi depressivi e postraumatici da stress- (Studio 1a), sia sul funzionamento genitoriale - stress che la madre incontra nell’esercizio del suo ruolo e nell’interazione con il bambino – (Studio 2) al follow-up a tre mesi dal parto. Inoltre, sono state indagate le differenze individuali (moderatori) e i meccanismi psicologici- linguistici (mediatori) associati al cambiamento positivo a seguito della scrittura espressiva (Studio 1b). Gli studi hanno evidenziato che i sintomi depressivi e di intrusione connessi al trauma si riducevano nelle donne assegnate alla condizione EW nel confronto con la condizione NW e che a beneficiare dell’intervento erano le donne con sintomi acuti post-partum (Studio 1a). L’elaborazione cognitiva dell’esperienza stressante del parto attraverso le sessioni di scrittura è stata identificata come il meccanismo chiave, responsabile degli effetti benefici sulla sintomatologia depressiva postnatale (Studio 1b). Infine, il terzo studio ha identificato un effetto positivo della scrittura espressiva sulla qualità dell’interazione madre-bambino moderato da alcune caratteristiche individuali. / One hundred forty women participated in the present randomized intervention study. Right after giving birth women were assigned to the Expressive Writing (EW) intervention group or to the non-emotional neutral writing (NW) condition. The aim was to investigate the effects in the childbirth experience of expressive writing both on psychological functioning - depression and post-partum traumatic stress symptoms - (Study 1a), and on parental functioning - the stress experienced by mothers in their parental role and in the interaction with the newborn - (Study 2) at a three-month follow-up after delivery. Individual differences were investigated as moderators and psycholinguistic mechanisms as mediators associated with positive changes following expressive writing (Study 1b). Results indicate that depression and intrusive symptoms related to the trauma decreased in EW women compared to NW women, and that acute post-partum symptom women benefited the most (Study 1a). Cognitive elaboration of the childbirth traumatic experience taking place during writing sessions is the key mechanism responsible for the beneficial effects on postnatal depression symptoms (Study 1b). Finally, the third study indicated a positive effect of expressive writing on the quality of mother-child interaction. The effect resulted moderated by some individual characteristics.