Les bienfaits de l’écriture chez les malades chroniques… où en sont les recherches ?

Abstract

Ten to 20% of children and adolescents live with chronic disease. Chronic disease is defined by long-term duration and the need for specialized care. It entails functional limitations in various spheres of life as compared to the lifestyle enjoyed by the healthy population. Teenagers with chronic illness are often marginalized or rejected by their peers, simply because they are different. They have higher levels of stress (internalized and externalized anxiety, symptoms of depression) than their healthy peers (20% vs. 8%). Eighteen percent of adolescents with chronic disease require psychological intervention. In 1986, Pennebaker published a study analyzing the effects of verbal and nonverbal emotional expression among health any adults. He showed significant links between written expression of emotion (particularly of negative emotions) and positive well-being. Other researchers also found a cathartic effect of written emotional disclosure on painful or traumatic events. In France, writing is now used in various settings, such as workshops in psychiatry. Empirical studies, made in United States with adults and teenagers, have shown that expressive writing (subjective writing wherein a person expresses the wealth of emotions experienced during a particularly disturbing event) had a positive impact on psychological and physiological symptoms. Most studies, however, have been conducted in adults, while the number of pediatric studies is limited. In this paper, we will start by briefly reviewing the research in adults to better understand the process of written emotional disclosure and its impact on health. We will then examine studies in the pediatric population and in school settings, where the technique has been used to encourage participants to express their emotions and experiences. We will also examine studies that used control groups comparing expressive writing with neutral writing. The use of expressive writing in adolescents with chronic disease is shown to reduce both psychological and physiological symptoms. Expressive writing increases cognitive function by rallying coping resources within oneself, as the sheer fact of writing contributes to making sense of and finding meaning to a particular event. Expressing writing draws on the capacity for introspection and facilitates maturation. It can be seen as complementary to medical intervention, by relieving stress, anxiety, depression, and other symptoms of psychological distress.