Comfort In Writing

ABC News reported on April 14,1999, about a new study that found that patients with arthritis or asthma often got better writing about terrible experiences in their lives such as a car wreck or the death of a loved one.  A group of 112 patients spent a total of just one hour writing.  Four months later, nearly half of those who wrote about stressful events had improved significantly.

The study is believed to be the first to examine how writing about stressful events affects specific illnesses.  It was conducted at the State University of New York at Stony Brook and published in The Journal of the American Medical Association, and it reinforces similar studies that have shown the health benefits for healthy people who wrote about stressful events.

- abcnews.go.com