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Written emotional disclosure and processing of trauma are associated with protected health status and immunity in people living with HIV/AIDS
Author(s) -
O'Cleirigh Conall,
Ironson Gail,
Fletcher Mary Ann,
Schneiderman Neil
Publication year - 2008
Publication title -
british journal of health psychology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.05
H-Index - 88
eISSN - 2044-8287
pISSN - 1359-107X
DOI - 10.1348/135910707x250884
Subject(s) - cognition , psychology , clinical psychology , human immunodeficiency virus (hiv) , self disclosure , asymptomatic , disease , medicine , psychiatry , immunology , social psychology
Objective. This study compared written emotional disclosure and processing of trauma among a relatively rare group of people with AIDS with atypically favourable disease status with an HIV+ comparison group. The study also examined the mediational role of emotional/cognitive processing and natural killer (NK) cells. Design. This study utilized a cross‐sectional group comparison design. Method. Two HIV+ groups, the Healthy Survivors ( N = 37;>9‐months with <50 CD4 cells/mm 3 and asymptomatic), and an HIV+ comparison groups ( N = 100) wrote essays describing their reactions to past traumas; these were scored for emotional disclosure/processing. Results. Healthy survivors had higher levels of emotional disclosure and emotional/cognitive processing than the comparison group. Emotional/cognitive processing mediated the relationship between emotional disclosure and group membership. NK cell number mediated the relationship between emotional/cognitive processing and ‘healthy survival’. Conclusions. The results suggest that higher levels of emotional disclosure and processing of trauma may confer health and immunological benefits to people living with HIV/AIDS.