Writing about Stress Helps Asthma and Arthritis Symptoms

According to a a variety of scientific reports, writing about stress can improve physical health conditions. For instance, it helps asthma and arthritis symptoms. One study (see reference below), involved 112 patients with asthma or rheumatoid arthritis, all of whom received standard medical care for their condition. It was found that 47% of those who wrote about a traumatic life event such as the loss of a loved one or relationship troubles for 20 minutes a day during a 3-day period showed improvements in their health, compared with 24% of "control" participants who wrote about an emotionally neutral topic such as their daily activities.

The effects of the writing exercise were still evident 4 months later and resulted in "clinically meaningful" improvements in patient symptoms. On average, asthma patients who wrote about their most stressful life event showed a 19% improvement in a specific measure of lung function, while control asthma patients showed no change. Treatment group rheumatoid arthritis patients were found to have a 28% reduction in symptoms, whereas control arthritis patients did not improve. Doctors assessed participants' health status at the beginning of study, and at 2 weeks, 2 months, and 4 months after the study. They found that the asthma patients who participated in expressive writing showed improvement as early as 2 weeks later, which was maintained at 4 months. But among the arthritis patients, improvement was noted, in the expressive writing group, only at the 4-month follow-up visit.

It is possible that the expressive writing has its effect because of some impact on stress reduction. They say it remains to be seen whether health improvements will persist beyond 4 months or whether this exercise will prove effective with other diseases, though they believe the data are encouraging. Perhaps protecting their profession, the authors caution that it may be difficult for people to do this kind of expressive writing on their own without guidance.

Dr. David Spiegel, of the department of psychiatry at Stanford University School of Medicine, California, wrote in the same issue of The Journal of the American Medical Association, "This study adds important data to the growing evidence that even limited interventions designed to improve management of stress may have lasting (physical) effects. . . .Were the authors to have provided similar outcome evidence about a new drug, it likely would be in widespread use within a short time. . . Ventilation of negative emotion, even just to an unknown reader, seems to have helped these patients acknowledge, bear, and put into perspective their distress," Spiegel writes. "In this and a growing number of studies, it is not simply mind over matter, but is it clear that mind matters."

Reference: Joshua M. Smyth & colleagues. The Journal of the American Medical Association, April 14th,1999.

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