The dynamic relationship of negative emotional content in the context of trauma-focused writing interventions on improvements in cognitive reappraisal: A pilot study.

Objective: Writing about traumatic experiences is beneficial for the reduction of posttraumatic stress symptoms, yet little research has examined the linguistic content of trauma-focused writing interventions. The current pilot study had two aims (a) characterize changes in linguistic features in two trauma-focused writing interventions; and (b) examine how changes in linguistic content may be associated with proposed mechanisms of change in trauma treatment (i.e., emotion regulation, cognitive reappraisal, and experiential avoidance).

Method: Data were a secondary analysis of a proof-of-concept trial of written exposure therapy (WET) compared to trauma-focused expressive writing. Participants ( = 33, 76% female) completed five virtual sessions and measures of emotion regulation, posttraumatic cognitions, and experiential avoidance. Reliable change was calculated for each mechanism pre/postintervention. Linguistic inquiry and word count (Boyd et al., 2022) was used to analyze linguistic content (i.e., negative emotion words, past tense, cognitive processing, and death-related content).

Results: Group differences emerged in slopes of narrative content across time for negative emotion words ( = 0.3, = .008), past tense ( = -1.45, < .01), and causal language ( = 0.39, = .002). Contrary to expectations, only the slope of change in negative emotion words was associated with reliable changes in posttraumatic cognitions ( = -0.59, = .023).

Conclusions: Findings contribute evidence to support the use of negative emotion words early in treatment as a potentially influential target for improving posttraumatic cognitions in WET. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved).