Date of Award
2012
Publication Type
Master Thesis
Degree Name
M.A.
Department
Psychology
Keywords
Psychology, Emotional processing, Expressive writing, Trauma, Writing instruction manipulation
Supervisor
Antonio Pascual-Leone
Rights
info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 International License.
Abstract
The current study took a different approach to studying expressive writing by examining the emotional processes by which it confers its benefits. An archival sample of 110 undergraduates, who suffered traumas, were instructed to write based on differing theories of emotional processing. Participant narratives were coded for depth of emotional processing and the presence of key emotions. Outcome was assessed at baseline and four weeks following writing. Conditions differed in their presence of key emotions (χ 2 [4, N = 110] = 39.160, p <.001), though not as expected. Depth of emotional processing differed as a function of condition and writing session, F (4,105) = 6.056, p <.001. Depth of emotional processing was negatively correlated with anxiety, r (107) = -.209. The results suggest that writing instructions are not always adhered to, writing instructions might differentially promote emotional processing over time, and promoting deepened emotional processing might facilitate reductions in anxiety.
Recommended Citation
Harrington, Shawn J., "Emotional Processing in an Expressive Writing Task on Trauma " (2012). Electronic Theses and Dissertations. 4813.
https://scholar.uwindsor.ca/etd/4813