Writing About Feelings May Beat Talking

New studies suggest that people who are able to write about their inner thoughts and feelings may enjoy better mental and physical health. The effect is seen among people who have had a variety of traumatic experiences.

Dr. James W. Pennebaker, a professor of psychology at Southern Methodist University in Dallas, has conducted several studies in which participants wrote for about 20 minutes over four consecutive days about their traumatic experiences, often events they had never discussed. The topics included sexual abuse, suicide attempts and extreme feelings of guilt. For comparison, other participants wrote about superficial topics like describing a room.

Dr. Pennebaker found that people who wrote about traumatic experiences visited doctors much less often than they did before and significantly less than people who wrote about trivial topics. Infection Fighters Aided

In another study, conducted with Janice Kiecolt-Glaser and Ronald Glaser at Ohio State University, the researchers used blood tests to evaluate the effects on health of writing about traumas. The researchers found significantly higher levels of T-cells, which help fight infection and virus, among people who wrote about traumatic experiences.

These and other studies have been reported in various journals of the American Psychological Association and are summarized in Dr. Pennebaker's new book, "Opening Up: The Healing Power of Confiding in Others" published by William Morrow & Company Inc.

Dr. Edward J. Murray, a professor of psychology at the University of Miami, said he initially found it hard to believe that "just writing about emotional experiences would do as much as psychotherapy." But he said a study he conducted showed that "writing seems to produce as much therapeutic benefit as sessions with a psychotherapist." A report on this research will soon be published in The Journal of Social and Clinical Psychology.

Researchers believe say that writing helps in two ways. "It reduces the physical and mental stress involved in inhibiting thoughts," Dr. Pennebaker said. "But more importantly, writing is a powerful tool to organize overwhelming events and make them manageable. The mind torments itself by thinking about unresolved issues. By translating the experience into language, people begin to organize and structure the surge of overwhelming thoughts. Once organized, they are easier to resolve."

Writing does have limitations in that it does not provide support from others. Dr. Pennebaker said writing is best viewed as a form of "psychological preventative maintenance."