Expressive Writing, Emotional Upheavals, and Health

There is a long history in psychology and medicine linking the occurrence of traumatic experiences with subsequent physical and mental health problems. What is it about a trauma that influences health? Several candidates immediately come to mind. Psychologically, personal upheavals provoke intense and long-lasting emotional changes. The unexpected events are generally associated with cognitive disruption including rumination and attempts to understand what happened and why. Socially, traumas are known to cause wholesale disruptions in people’s social networks. Behaviorally, and perhaps because of the social and psychological changes, traumas are often associated with lifestyle changes such as unhealthy smoking, drinking, exercise, sleeping, and eating patterns. Each of these psychological, social, and behavioral effects is associated with a host of biological changes including elevations in cortisol, immune disruption, cardiovascular changes, and a cascade of neurotransmitter changes. Individuals who are highly reactive to novel stimuli (Vaidya & Garfield, 2003), are highly anxious (Miller, 2003), avoidant, and self-blaming (Sutker, Davis, Uddo, & Ditta, 1995), and high in hypnotic ability (Bower & Sivers, 1998) may be particularly susceptible to traumatic experiences. Similarly, the more extreme the trauma and the longer time over which it lasts ar