Rheumatoid Arthritis - Cathartic Treatment
Rheumatoid Arthritis Relationship to Stress
They say the pen is mightier than the sword, and if you have a chronic medical condition, new research finds that the pen may be as mighty as your medication.
A recent study found that people with chronic asthma or rheumatoid arthritis (RA) experienced improvements in their conditions after spending a total of one hour writing. What they wrote about, however, made all the difference.
Some of the people in the study were asked to write about the most stressful event of their lives in an emotional, insightful manner, and some were asked to write about a neutral topic—how they planned to spend the rest of their day.
Four months after the writing experiment, asthma participants were evaluated with spirometry, which is a way of measuring the air capacity of the lungs, and people in the RA group were examined by a rheumatologist.
The people with asthma who wrote about stressful events showed improvements in lung function, but the people in the other writing group showed no change.
The people in the RA experimental group also showed improvement—a 28 percent reduction in disease severity. The group who wrote about neutral topics had no change in symptom severity. Overall, 47 percent of the people, who wrote about stressful events in their lives, experienced improvement in the disease.
Although researchers aren’t quite sure why the writing exercise helped, it might be worth trying. Just grab a pen and some paper and start writing.
As an avid writer and editorialist with rheumatoid arthritis (24 years), I can attest to this result. I write to my congressmen and senators on subjects that are confrontational. Some of my best friends are very much aware of that flare in my writing and have told me so. Although, I mean no harm, it is a kind of catharsis and I do believe it has a subconscious connection to my effort to relieve or reduce the excruciating pain (24-7) of rheumatoid arthritis. The asthma, which I also have, is another source that is, apparently, addressed by this activity.
I have my insightful and inspirational rheumatologist to thank for a sudden burst of expression delivered by the power of the "pen." The large number of positive responses I get from my contributions in the health, recreation and political fields are undoubtedly another helpful source for well-being.
Although, this is not directly related to "Healthy Eating," it is another important consideration to resolving health problems in a more positive way.
Could writing about stress be a cathartic remedy for excruciating pain and improving both RA and asthmatic condtions?
They say the pen is mightier than the sword, and if you have a chronic medical condition, new research finds that the pen may be as mighty as your medication.
A recent study found that people with chronic asthma or rheumatoid arthritis (RA) experienced improvements in their conditions after spending a total of one hour writing. What they wrote about, however, made all the difference.
Some of the people in the study were asked to write about the most stressful event of their lives in an emotional, insightful manner, and some were asked to write about a neutral topic—how they planned to spend the rest of their day.
Four months after the writing experiment, asthma participants were evaluated with spirometry, which is a way of measuring the air capacity of the lungs, and people in the RA group were examined by a rheumatologist.
The people with asthma who wrote about stressful events showed improvements in lung function, but the people in the other writing group showed no change.
The people in the RA experimental group also showed improvement—a 28 percent reduction in disease severity. The group who wrote about neutral topics had no change in symptom severity. Overall, 47 percent of the people, who wrote about stressful events in their lives, experienced improvement in the disease.
Although researchers aren’t quite sure why the writing exercise helped, it might be worth trying. Just grab a pen and some paper and start writing.
As an avid writer and editorialist with rheumatoid arthritis (24 years), I can attest to this result. I write to my congressmen and senators on subjects that are confrontational. Some of my best friends are very much aware of that flare in my writing and have told me so. Although, I mean no harm, it is a kind of catharsis and I do believe it has a subconscious connection to my effort to relieve or reduce the excruciating pain (24-7) of rheumatoid arthritis. The asthma, which I also have, is another source that is, apparently, addressed by this activity.
I have my insightful and inspirational rheumatologist to thank for a sudden burst of expression delivered by the power of the "pen." The large number of positive responses I get from my contributions in the health, recreation and political fields are undoubtedly another helpful source for well-being.
Although, this is not directly related to "Healthy Eating," it is another important consideration to resolving health problems in a more positive way.
Could writing about stress be a cathartic remedy for excruciating pain and improving both RA and asthmatic condtions?
posted by Stan Kent at
11:30 AM
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