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Focused expressive writing as self‐help for stress and trauma
Author(s) -
Smyth Joshua,
Helm Rebecca
Publication year - 2003
Publication title -
journal of clinical psychology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.124
H-Index - 119
eISSN - 1097-4679
pISSN - 0021-9762
DOI - 10.1002/jclp.10144
Subject(s) - psychology , psychotherapist , process (computing) , traumatic stress , stress (linguistics) , cognitive psychology , clinical psychology , computer science , linguistics , philosophy , operating system
In the therapy process, the process of disclosing about stressful or traumatic events is often considered essential. One such manner is through focused expressive writing (FEW) about stressful or traumatic experiences. FEW is related to improvements in health and well‐being, across a wide array of outcomes and participant characteristics. As FEW requires limited involvement of other individuals, is relatively low cost, and portable, it has tremendous potential as self‐help. In particular, FEW may be an effective means to reach populations unwilling or unable to engage in psychotherapy. A case illustration of FEW is presented. Evidence and future directions for FEW as self‐help are reviewed. © 2003 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Clin Psychol/In Session 59: 227–235, 2003.