Abstract:

There is nowadays a real interest for assessing in a scientific manner the effect of writing on health. In this respect, we consider that James Pennebaker's paradigm, the Expressive Writing (EW) task, conceived for the study of emotional disclosure, represents a useful framework in which to study the effects of confronting with distressing (traumatic) events on physical and psychological health. Using Pennebaker's paradigm, in the present study we have aimed to assess the impact of EW on both physical and psychological health. Actually, we were focusing our attention on emotional distress (trauma) related to students' college life. Based on the outcomes of similar experimental studies, we have assumed that following the Expressive Writing task, psychological distress, physical and mental health problems, the level of negative emotions of the college students would decrease, and their level of positive emotions would increase. Our results have shown that the participants benefit from the EW task by reducing their psychological distress and by improving their physical and mental health. The results confirm the utility of the EW paradigm for health improvement in a Romanian student population.

Keywords:  expressive writing, distress, emotional disclosure