Diary-writing has psychological benefits-Journal of happiness studies

The writing has been used extensively as a coping strategy and was applied to improve psychological well-being. One study found that suicidal poets used more first person singular pronouns (I, me, mine) compared to the control group of poets.

This study from Taiwan, published in the Journal of Happiness Studies, investigated the psychological shift in the paradigm of diary-writing (PDPD) and its alleged psychological benefits.

Study participants were assigned to write about their recent negative life experiences twice a week for 2 weeks in PDPD (diary-writing) or comparison group (non-diary-writing).

The group writing diary (PDPD) showed a decrease of negative emotions and an increase in positive emotion immediately after each session of writing (short-term effects).

They also had an increase in psychological well-being for at least 2 weeks (long-term effect).

References:

The psychological shift in the paradigm of diary-writing (PDPD) and its psychological benefits. Jen-Ho Chang, Huang Chin-Lan and Yi-Cheng Lin. JOURNAL OF HAPPINESS studies, DOI: 10.1007 2012/s10902-012-9321-y

Google Plus comments and Twitter:

Lin w: I think the blog writing could have the same effect?

Ves Dimov, m.d.: It depends on the type of blogging that do, but yes, blogging can be a positive experience too.

Dr. Amal Hasan @ DrFloona: Diary-writing has psychological benefits bit.ly/wwMDmr "until someone else reads it

Dean Giustini @ giustini: Diary-writing has psychological benefits bit.ly/wwMDmr [isn't this why we blog Ves?]

@ DrVes: well, I'm not sure. I do not blog about "bad experiences". Blog Archive for me =