BMJ 1999;319:270-271 ( 31 July )

Editorials

Writing as therapy

Effects on immune mediated illness need substantiation in independent studies 

The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below.

Recently JAMA published a trial of a "get it off your chest" writing exercise.1 Seventy one patients with asthma or rheumatoid arthritis were randomised to write about the most stressful experience they had ever had or about their plans for the day for three separate 20 minute periods over a few days and then to drop their completed essay into a sealed box. The study apparently showed a significant improvement in standard measures of disease severity in both conditions four months later. An accompanying editorial exhorted readers to abandon the Cartesian split between mind and body, and acknowledge the growing evidence in support of behavioural interventions that reduce emotional stress as therapies for diseases that are mediated in part by the immune system.2 Do these results stand up, and is it therefore time to heed this call?

Therapeutic writing is a hot topic on both sides of the Atlantic. In the . . . [Full text of this article]
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This article has been cited by other articles:

  • Carroll, R. (2005). Finding the Words to Say It: The Healing Power of Poetry. Evid Based Complement Alternat Med 2: 161-172 [Abstract] [Full text]  
  • Frost, H., Lamb, S. E, Doll, H. A, Carver, P. T., Stewart-Brown, S. (2004). Randomised controlled trial of physiotherapy compared with advice for low back pain. BMJ 329: 708- [Abstract] [Full text]  
  • Strasser, F., Fisch, M., Bodurka, D. C., Sivesind, D., Bruera, E. (2003). E-motions: Email for Written Emotional Expression. JCO 21: 98s-101 [Full text]  
  • Strasser, F., Fisch, M., Bodurka, D. C., Sivesind, D., Bruera, E. (2002). E-motions: Email for Written Emotional Expression. JCO 20: 3352-3355 [Full text]  
  • Holmes, J. (2000). Narrative in psychiatry and psychotherapy: the evidence?. Med. Humanities 26: 92-96 [Abstract] [Full text]  

Rapid Responses:

Read all Rapid Responses

Scurrilous comments untherapeutic
L Reinecke
bmj.com, 1 Aug 1999 [Full text]
Therapeutic Writing-follow this guide
Jay Ilangaratne
bmj.com, 6 Aug 1999 [Full text]
Literature as therapy
Juan C Ansin
bmj.com, 5 Aug 1999 [Full text]
Subjects unrelated to the disease?
George Jelinek
bmj.com, 9 Aug 1999 [Full text]
Writing as therapy - get it right!
Joyce M Carter
bmj.com, 13 Aug 1999 [Full text]
Writing and Visualisation.
Lewis Walker
bmj.com, 27 Aug 1999 [Full text]
Response
Tim Hall
bmj.com, 2 Nov 1999 [Full text]
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