Does emotional disclosure about stress improve health in XXXX ? Randomized, controlled trials of written and spoken disclosure.

@entity1 @entity2720 @entity309 @entity158
Studies of the effects of disclosing stressful experiences among @entity1 with @entity309 ( @entity309 ) have yielded inconsistent findings, perhaps due to different disclosure methods--writing or speaking--and various methodological limitations. We randomized adults with @entity309 to a writing (n=88) or speaking (to a recorder) sample (n=93), and within each sample, to either disclosure or 1 of 2 control groups (positive or neutral events), which conducted four 20-minute, at-home sessions. Follow-up evaluations at 1, 3, and 6 months included self-reported, behavioral, physiological, and blinded physician-assessed outcomes. In both writing and speaking samples, the disclosure and control groups were comparably credible, and the linguistic content differed as expected. Covariance analyses at each follow-up point indicated that written disclosure had minimal effects compared with combined controls--only @entity158 was reduced at 1 and 6 months, but no other outcomes improved. Spoken disclosure led to faster walking speed at 3 months, and @entity158 , @entity2720 , and physician-rated disease activity at 6 months, but there were no effects on other outcomes. Latent growth curve modeling examined differences in the trajectory of change over follow-up. Written disclosure improved affective @entity158 and walking speed; spoken disclosure showed only a marginal benefit on sensory @entity158 . In both analyses, the few benefits of disclosure occurred relative to both positive and neutral control groups. We conclude that both written and spoken disclosure have modest benefits for @entity1 with @entity309 , particularly at 6 months, but these effects are limited in scope and consistency.
