Expressive writing and positive writing for participants with mood disorders: an online randomized controlled trial.

Introduction: Expressive writing--writing about traumatic, stressful or emotional events--often leads to improvements in physical and psychological health in non-clinical and clinical populations. Recent studies have shown that positive writing may also be beneficial. Research has not yet investigated whether either expressive writing or positive writing offers benefits for people with mood disorders.

Who does expressive writing work for? Examination of alexithymia, splitting, and repressive coping style as moderators of the expressive writing paradigm.

Objective: This paper examines the moderating influence of alexithymia, splitting, and repressive coping style in the expressive writing paradigm.

Method: Eighty-eight university students randomized to four weekly 20-minute expressive or neutral writing sessions, with 1-month follow-up.

Results: Expressive writing was more beneficial for individuals scoring higher on alexithymia and splitting, but not repressive coping.

Expressive writing for high-risk drug dependent patients in a primary care clinic: a pilot study.

Background: Previous research has shown that expressive writing is beneficial in terms of both physical and emotional health outcomes. This study aimed to investigate the effectiveness and acceptability of a brief expressive writing intervention for high-risk drug dependent patients in a primary care clinic, and to determine the relationship between linguistic features of writing and health outcomes.

Methods: Participants completed four 15-minute expressive writing tasks over a week, in which they described their thoughts and feelings about a recent stressful event.