Journaling Helps Writing, but Not Asthma

Findings from a new study contradictedan early study that indicated journalingeases asthma. The researchers reportedthat patients with asthmabreathed better after writing aboutstressful experiences, compared withwriting about neutral subjects. The 1999study found individuals with asthma whowrote about stressful experiences for 20minutes per day for 3 days had improvedlung function when they wrote about neutraltopics, and those improvements lastedfor months.

For the current study, reported in PsychosomaticMedicine (January/February2005), the researchers asked 114 adultswith the same severity of asthma to journalabout positive experiences, stressfulexperiences, or neutral experiences for20 minutes a week for 3 weeks. Theresults of the study found writing aboutstressful events caused the participantsto feel more upset, sad, and angry thanothers.