Deep Thoughts Research Articles

The Silence That Remains by Fady Joudah

how the many experiences we have in this human existence are far more similar than not. Sometimes the most overlooked, seemingly simple events are the most profoundly unifying, as in this moment where the speaker says, “I didn’t mean to go outside except there / the sky was, just ridiculously blue, / taunting me with pigment that I felt / the need to name.” And haven’t we all experienced this magnitude of awe when looking up at the sky? This simple observation is the thread that will keep humanity from its complete unraveling. The characters, images, and language of Rocket Fantastic exist at the intersection of love and humanity—an ideal that seems entirely foreign but enchanting and necessary . We read on and we read on in this collection, and we want it to exist. Sarah Warren University of North Texas Adonis. Concerto Al-Quds. Trans. Khaled Mattawa. New Haven, Connecticut. Yale University Press. 2017. 96 pages. In his Concerto Al-Quds, Adonis immortalizes Jerusalem through juxtaposing the city to its past and present rulers, wars, streets, and religions that are deeply rooted in history. Adonis brings together Roman, Christian, Jewish, and Islamic histories and has them celebrate the marvelous Quds. The city is what always remains despite the fluctuation of politics and religions. For Adonis, Al-Quds is an ever-extraordinary city where all the contradictions of life meet—life and death, beauty and malice, love and hatred, peace and war. It’s a “Sky on earth / Al-Quds, a dream language / a language that history bleeds into what came before it and after it / that mixes the human and the real / ending and non-ending.” Al-Quds is like no other city. It is the impossible that will always declare its immortality. Adonis creates a vivid image of al-Quds and how instead of death representing the end of its inhabitants’ lives, it uses their bodies and graves for rejuvenation, as if death is the beginning of another life, parallel to that of the afterlife but this time on earth where “graves are the semen of al-Quds.” He utilizes creative images that leave the reader fascinated both with the beauty of al-Quds and the language that describes it, leaving a mythic illustration of this ancient city. Adonis’s meticulous choice of language embodies recurring attempts to capture the smallest details of everything in al-Quds, such as the sky as he says, “What can I say? / No, there is no sky any more / No Sama’ / The Seen is a sword, the Mim mortality / the Alifs are an oppressive ancestry / The glottal stop a vast emptiness.” With deep thoughts and carefully chosen language, Adonis champions Al-Quds as the sole victor among its multiple rulers. His style employs a variety of concrete to abstract images, old and new histories, divine and human, nature and the supernatural—all are proudly part of the city. He smoothly takes the reader from the depths of history to the geography around the city, putting Al-Quds at the center of every aspect of life, life on earth and the hereafter. Mohammed Kadalah University of Connecticut Ghassan Zaqtan. The Silence That Remains. Trans. Fady Joudah. Port Townsend, Washington. Copper Canyon Press. 2017. 255 pages. In the preface to Ghassan Zaqtan’s The Silence That Remains, translator Fady Joudah tells the reader: “To have memory and to articulate memory are two different things. . . . The more one attempts to capture memory and enunciate it, the more one is resigned to an endless task.” Zaqtan writes in the caesura between memory and World Literature in Review 84 WLT JANUARY–FEBRUARY 2018 recollection, endlessly cataloging imperfectly rendered experience in the poems of this fine collection, capably rendered and introduced to English readers by Joudah (see WLT, March 2016, 31–36). Joudah describes Zaqtan as a kind of “art historian” of his own experience, and many of the spare poems of this collection engage memory in the manner of black-and-white photographs: they emphasize by shadow or absence; they frame what can be recollected , leaving plenty of room for that which remains outside the frame to speak. In “Their Absence,” Zaqtan writes, “And what remains / but little...

Examining Thought Proceses to Understand the Impact of Water Conservation Messages on Attitude

Water availability issues have plagued many regions around the world and is viewed as the top issue facing the world. As a result, encouraging water conservation has become a priority for agricultural communicators. Previous research suggests strategically framed messages can impact attitudes about water conservation, but whether this change is a result of deep thoughts or simple cues has not been explored. This study used semi-structured qualitative interviews to explore the thought processes of individuals who irrigate their home landscape by presenting them with strategically framed messages. This audience was targeted due to the high volumes of water they use for irrigation. The interview process sought to understand how this group processed communication by asking participants to list their thoughts and verbalize their feelings toward a personal and a social message. The analysis was guided by the Elaboration Likelihood Model. The findings suggested participants processed the messages peripherally or retained their initial attitude. The findings implied this particular audience had more favorable thoughts toward the social benefits of water conservation than personal benefits. Future messages developed to promote water conservation should focus on the social benefits to promote increased change.

Deep Thoughts: A Look at Public Access to Deepwater Sites through the Mardi Gras Shipwreck

In late 2006, the Florida Public Archaeology Network (FPAN) was asked by the Minerals Management Service to direct the public outreach and education component of the Mardi Gras Shipwreck Project. Traditional public outreach efforts for archaeological sites in shallow water typically focus on getting diving and snorkeling visitors to the site. Interpretive materials for such sites often include waterproof site plans, submerged markers, and guidelines to direct visitors around the site as they explore and learn. Deepwater archaeological sites present unique challenges, namely, the interpretation of resources managed for the public that the public will never physically visit. This article discusses FPAN’s role in the Mardi Gras Shipwreck Project and the public education strategies developed to present the shipwreck and the extreme deepwater project to the public.

8 Patients’ perspectives of living with epilepsy or psychogenic non-epileptic seizures: a thematic analysis investigating patients’ writings

<h3>Objective</h3> This study examines the subjective experience of living with epilepsy or psychogenic non-epileptic seizures (PNES) by qualitatively analysing patients’ written accounts. Qualitative methodologies can produce fine grained and rich detail, as patients are able to describe, in their own words, what is important to them. Writing is an individual act allowing for private exploration and expression, and has previously been used to reveal insights into the phenomenology of other conditions. <h3>Method</h3> Patients were recruited from a United Kingdom hospital and from membership-led organisations for individuals living with seizures. This dataset was collected in the context of a randomised control trial investigating a writing intervention for patients with seizures. The current data was captured by asking patients to handwrite or type: about their very deepest thoughts and feelings about their condition; a letter to their condition; a letter to their younger self; and about a personal value and why it is important to them. Patients were asked to write for at least 20 min per question, at home, in private and on separate days. Questions were used to guide patients towards reflecting on their experiences of living with seizures. The four questions were adapted from the literature investigating writing therapies for clinical populations. All the writings were analysed thematically using a theory and data driven approach. <h3>Results</h3> Patients with epilepsy (n=20) and PNES (n=19) were matched on sample size, age, gender, education, quality of life, seizure severity, and words written. In the writings of patients with epilepsy, five key-themes and 22 sub-themes emerged from the data. The five themes reflected experiences of seizure onset, seizure symptoms, treatment and outcome, living with epilepsy, and displays of coping. In patients with PNES, six key-themes and 29 sub-themes emerged. The six themes reflected accounts of: aetiology and development, seizure symptoms, emotions, living with PNES, lack of understanding by themselves, others, and healthcare professionals, and treatment and outcome. <h3>Conclusion</h3> Thematic differences were observed between the two conditions. Patients with PNES regularly described their symptoms and how people have reacted to their condition, especially themselves and healthcare professionals. Patients with epilepsy focused on how the condition has affected their lives, in which, they portray themselves as coping and ‘fighting’ to live a ‘normal’ life. The findings from this study add to the growing research applying qualitative methodologies to investigate the phenomenology of epilepsy and PNES. Understanding patients’ experiences can hold diagnostic, treatment and prognostic implications.

Arcabas’s paintings in the Shrine of Our Lady of La Salette

Acting under the nickname Arcabas, Jean-Marie Pirot is a contemporary French religious painter, totally unknown in Poland. Arcabas’s artistic output is enormous, albeit difficult to catalogue. Today his works can be admired in many churches in France, in other locations across Europe, as well as in North and South America, or even in distant Japan. Our article presents a synthesis of the artistic path of Arcabas as a versatile painter who likes to influence human senses by colours while looking for harmony and beauty as God’s humble follower. In his works he transfers biblical scenes to canvas, transforming them into visual art. Moreover, we analysed six Arcabas’s paintings exhibited in the cradle of the congregation of Missionaries of Our Lady of La Salette, i.e. in the shrine of Our Lady of La Salette in France: The Wedding at Cana, Mouring at Calvary, Christ Pantocrator, The Symbols of Five Evangelists, Crowned Madonna with Child Jesus, La Salette – the Encounter. The artist’s smooth transitions from the literal to the abstract, and even combining both in a single work cause Arcabas’s works to be greeted with enthusiasm on the one hand, but criticized on the other. Jean-Marie Pirot’s art is far from clear or easy to absorb; it is rather challenging and ambiguous. It holds a mystery that intrigues, invites and encourages us to look deeper. It contains strong links to traditional Christian art, both eastern and western. The painter is not satisfied with merely becoming part of the long tradition and being inspired by themes from the repertoire of the past. He is not a slave to traditional figurative art, although his works do contain references to this tradition; instead, he demonstrates his creativity, always coming up with something new. In addition, Arcabas’s output demonstrates exceptional freedom in intertwining the sacred with the profane, sometimes suggesting that the very division should be rejected. His works, including those displayed in the shrine in La Salette, raise many questions, and provoke deep thoughts and many feelings, ranging from negative to positive. It should be emphasized that Arcabas’s paintings in the shrine of Our Lady of La Salette are not kitsch, but exemplify brilliant art of the 20th century.

Deep thoughts on lipids and cognition.

Deep thoughts on lipids and cognition.

Using engaged philosophical inquiry to deepen young children’s understanding of environmental sustainability: Being, becoming and belonging

This research paper shares findings related to our use of Engaged Philosophical Inquiry (EPI) with a group of young children (aged 3-4) as a pedagogical method taken up to extend young children’s thinking about human use of forest parkland and to determine the children’s ontological positions related to environmental sustainability. The study was conducted in a forested area adjoining a ‘living building’ childcare centre. Here researchers, along with a core group of 9-13 children, their teachers, and a Philosopher-in-Residence (Warren Bowen) visited the forest environment on a fortnightly basis over a four-month period from January to May 2016 to explore the forested area, play games and discuss issues related to forest use and human habitation. Video records of the EPI sessions were transcribed and analysed to determine the children’s propositions and related ontological stance(s) across sessions. Findings from this study include: (1) evidence that young children’s views on stewardship are situated within socio-material manifestations of belonging, ownership, and entitlement within the forest; and (2) that absurdities, along with other more traditional EPI and P4C strategies, can be used successfully to playfully challenge young children’s thinking about the rigour of their propositions and to provoke deeper thoughts related to belonging and care.

Expressive writing among Chinese American breast cancer survivors: A randomized controlled trial.

Despite the significant size of the Asian American population, few studies have been conducted to improve cancer survivorship in this underserved group. Research has demonstrated that expressive writing interventions confer physical and psychological benefits for a variety of populations, including Non-Hispanic White cancer survivors. The study aims to evaluate the health benefits of an expressive writing intervention among Chinese-speaking breast cancer survivors in the U.S. It was hypothesized that expressive writing would increase health-related quality of life (HRQOL). Ninety-six Chinese breast cancer survivors were randomly assigned to 1 of 3 writing conditions: a self-regulation group, an emotional disclosure group, or a cancer-fact group. The self-regulation group wrote about one's deepest feelings and coping efforts in addition to finding benefits from their cancer experience. The emotional disclosure group wrote about one's deepest thoughts and feelings. The cancer-fact group wrote about facts relevant to their cancer experience. HRQOL was assessed by FACT-B at baseline, 1, 3, and 6-month follow-ups. Effect sizes and residual zed change models were used to compare group differences in HRQOL. Contrary to expectations, the cancer-fact group reported the highest level of overall quality of life at the 6-month follow-up. The self-regulation group had higher emotional well-being compared to the emotional disclosure group. The study challenges the implicit assumption that psychosocial interventions validated among Non-Hispanic Whites could be directly generalized to other populations. It suggests that Asians may benefit from writing instructions facilitating more cognitive than emotional processes. (PsycINFO Database Record

Genre Is Not a Four-Letter Word: Satisfying and Subverting Reader Expectations

Genre Is Not a Four-Letter Word: Satisfying and Subverting Reader Expectations Lou Berney (bio) Thank you all for having me here this evening. It’s a pleasure and an honor. I’d especially like to thank Julie Chappell, who extended the invitation to me. Julie can’t be with us tonight, unfortunately, so I can speak with complete honesty about her. She’s a wonderful writer, teacher, colleague, and friend, and I hope I don’t let her down. When I tell someone I write crime novels, I’m usually greeted with one of three facial expressions: Expression #1: Wide eyes, raised eyebrows, big smile. As in, “That’s awesome!” Expression #2: Knitted brows, nervous smile, rapid blinking. As in, “You know how to murder me and get away with it, don’t you?” (I do know how, by the way.) Expression #3: Chin lifted, nose pointed down at me, smug smile. As in, “Oh, for a moment I thought you were a real novelist.” In some circles, that last reaction is not uncommon. When I was in graduate school, for example, a student submitted a short story to our workshop. The story was about a couple of guys who find a bag of money in the woods and go on the run from some other guys who want the money back. The workshop started and—I remember this very clearly—one of the other students pushed the story away like it was this weird smelly knot of hair and gunk he’d fished out of a clogged drainpipe, and he said, “This is a crime story.” Well, my first idea, when I started planning this talk, was to fight that fight and make the case that crime stories (and so-called genre fiction in general) is worthy of serious consideration and study. But I know this is an enlightened bunch. You read and teach writers such as Raymond Chandler and Megan Abbott and Georges Simenon and Patricia Highsmith and Walter Mosely and Viet Nguyen. You believe that there’s good fiction and there’s bad fiction, there’s literature and there’s [End Page 6] product, and a crime novel—like any other novel—can be set down on either side of the ledger. So then I started to consider the Deep Thoughts that I might have about crime fiction. What’s the source of its universal appeal? What does it tell us about the dark corners of our own minds and hearts? Et cetera. But the problem, I have to admit, is that I don’t really have any Deep Thoughts. I’m the kind of writer who has to focus on the nuts and bolts of what I’m doing. Voice. Character. Plot. To paraphrase Flannery O’Connor, I have to stare for a long time, often an embarrassingly long time, before I understand what I’m seeing. In essence, I’m always trying to write a novel smarter than I am. For your sake and mine, then, I’m not going to attempt any Deep Thoughts tonight. Instead I’m going to talk about crime fiction, and so-called genre fiction in general, in the only way I can talk about it with any confidence or enthusiasm or expertise: from the perspective of a writer, one writer, for whom an understanding of genre—of conventions and expectations—is crucial. For several years I made my living mostly as a working-class Hollywood screenwriter. I got paid, but not millions, which means I had to go up for a lot of different kinds of writing assignments. Here’s what happens in a typical meeting with a producer. She’ll say, “Hey, Lou, so we’ve got this project we need a writer to tackle—it’s a light romantic comedy or psycho-sexual thriller or inspirational family sports drama or animated action-adventure set in a dystopian future where giant harpy eagles have enslaved mankind. Would you be into something like that?” And I’ll say, “Are you kidding me? You won’t believe this, but I have been passionate my entire life about psycho-sexual thrillers or inspirational family sports dramas or animated action...

Expressive writing. A tool to help health workers. Research project on the benefits of expressive writing.

Background and Aims: Numerous studies in the international literature hold that expressive writing is a useful tool to take care of the person as a whole. It gives voice to emotions, moods and intimate thoughts of patients, as well as caregivers and family members. The reference model is based on Pennebaker’s theory (2004), which posits that expressing our deeper thoughts and feelings can result in significant health benefits in the short and long term. Studies over the past 25 years have shown that expressive writing, that is, simple writing on deeper thoughts and emotional sensations, is a useful tool to alleviate both physical and psychological symptoms. This research seeks to ascertain whether and how expressive writing has an impact on work satisfaction, coping strategies, and relational communication satisfaction of health practitioners. Methods: a comparison was made between the expressive writing and neutral writing of two randomized groups of health care professionals. A group of 66 healthcare professionals participated in this study. They were evaluated pre- and post-intervention using several scales and an ad hoc questionnaire, with one-month follow-up. Results: After analyzing the texts, as in Pennebaker’s studies, there was a reduction of words with negative emotion in the course of writing sessions. Discussion: Expressive writing has a positive impact on adaptive coping strategies and work relational communication satisfaction. It also can facilitate the clarification and solution of various problems, increase cognitive abilities, and promote social interactions.

Sharing secrets, revealing thoughts and feelings. Perceptions about disclosure practices and anonymity in a FB University students

The aim of this study was to identify students' perceptions about personal information disclosure and anonymity in a specific Facebook University Community. The explicit goal of this Community is the sharing of secrets and the revelation of students' deepest thoughts and feelings on high sensitive issues as their erotic or sexual life, leading to information disclosures in various ways. An online survey was conducted and spread through Community's Facebook profile in order to record students' perceptions about the Community and to identify disclosure practices as well as perceived benefits and costs deriving from their participation. Anonymity as expected is valued positively while privacy violations seem to bother less since this is a public Community resulting in a stated comfort about secondary disclosure taking place through reference to persons' physical or other characteristics. This study enhances existing literature on Facebook, by enlightening more facets of personal information disclosure on Facebook students' communities.

Studying of Religious Common Themes in Seven Bodies of Nezamy and Eight Heavens of Amir Khusrau Dehlavi

&lt;p&gt;Seven bodies of Nezamy is rich trove from symbols, attitudes and different themes that with studying of them, in addition to understanding of global character of Nezamy and his deep thoughts, can went to the beliefs and religious infrastructures of poet. Amir Khusrau Dehlavi as the largest imitator of Nezamy had a particular attitude towards all aspects of seven bodies singing eight heaven. Both poets in singing of common concepts, have placed poetry as a means to express their high ideas. This idea expresses social situation of the age of every poet and on the other hand, it expresses the governing religious, doctrinal, moral principles on that time. In the present article it has been tried that most religious themes are extracted that they are most imitated and adapted themes in terms of terms, combinatory and the rhymes in the two system; they amount the frequency of them is been determined in each system. Also, the most obvious evidences of example are mentioned that it indicates imitation and similar writing. It is obvious in this study that innovative aspects and innovations of Dehlavi in eight heaven are also taken into consideration.&lt;/p&gt;

Finding Meaning in Written Emotional Expression by Family Caregivers of Persons With Dementia.

This study tested the effect of written emotional expression on the ability to find meaning in caregiving and the effects of finding meaning on emotional state and psychological burden in 91 dementia family caregivers. In a pretest-posttest design, participants were randomly assigned to either an experimental or a comparison group. Experimental caregivers (n = 57) wrote about their deepest thoughts and feelings about caring for a family member with dementia, whereas those in the comparison group (n = 34) wrote about nonemotional topics. Results showed enhanced meaning-making abilities in experimental participants relative to comparison participants, particularly for those who used more positive emotion words. Improved meaning-making ability was in turn associated with psychological benefits at posttest, but experimental participants did not show significantly more benefit than comparison participants. We explore the mediating roles of the meaning-making process as well as some of the background characteristics of the individual caregivers and their caregiving environments.

Does Feeling Bad, Lead to Feeling Good? Arousal Patterns during Expressive Writing

Different psychotherapy theories describe process patterns of emotional arousal in contradictory ways. To control both treatment and therapist responsivity, this study sought to test dynamic patterns in the arousal of negative affect using a controlled experimental study of expressive writing. There were 261 participants (78% women; M = 21 years old; 56% White) who suffered unresolved traumas who were randomly assigned to an expressive writing task and asked to write about their deepest thoughts and feelings, or to a writing control. Participants wrote for 15 min on three consecutive days, completing the Positive Affect and Negative Affect Scale before and after each visit. Data across 6 time points were subjected to hierarchical linear modeling (HLM) and pattern analyses. Session-by-session (24 hr periods), the expressive writing group showed an overall linear decrease in negative affect (β = −2.273, p &lt; .001). However, in pre- to post-session ratings (15 min periods), the expressive writing group also demonstrated increases in negative affect (β = 6.467, p &lt; .001). Neither of these patterns were observed in the control group. Pattern analysis demonstrated 69.8% of cases in the expressive writing group perfectly or almost perfectly followed a predicted zig-zag pattern ( p &lt; .01). No control cases showed this pattern. Findings demonstrate how the habituation/inhibition hypothesis (“it gets easier as one gets over it”) and the meaning-making hypothesis (“it gets worse before it gets better”) can both be supported, each at different scopes of analysis. Implications clarify the role of emotional arousal in change.

Does gratitude writing improve the mental health of psychotherapy clients? Evidence from a randomized controlled trial

Although the past decade has witnessed growing research interest in positive psychological interventions (PPIs), their potential as adjunctive interventions for psychotherapy remains relatively unexplored. Therefore, this article expands the frontiers of PPI research by reporting the first randomized controlled trial to test a gratitude writing adjunctive intervention for psychotherapy clients. Participants were 293 adults seeking university-based psychotherapy services. Participants were randomly assigned to one of three conditions: (a) control (psychotherapy only), (b) a psychotherapy plus expressive writing, and (c) a psychotherapy plus gratitude writing. Participants in the gratitude condition wrote letters expressing gratitude to others, whereas those in the expressive writing condition wrote about their deepest thoughts and feelings about stressful experiences. About 4 weeks as well as 12 weeks after the conclusion of the writing intervention, participants in the gratitude condition reported significantly better mental health than those in the expressive and control conditions, whereas those in the expressive and control conditions did not differ significantly. Moreover, lower proportions of negative emotion words in participants’ writing mediated the positive effect of condition (gratitude versus expressive writing) on mental health. These findings are discussed in light of the use of gratitude interventions as adjunctive interventions for psychotherapy clients.

The Untaught Lesson.

My fellow physician and friend died from a rare type of cancer. She was a model for me in many respects. She showed me how to cope with a chronic disease together with a demanding professional life, yet she left me without any comfort or guidelines on how to contend with a terminal disease. This story is a reflection on my frustration and disappointment with my friend's final choices that prevented us from processing our feelings and sharing our deepest thoughts. The story includes reflections and insights about our ability to understand and accept the preferences of patients and others close to us.

“Really Deep Thoughts”: Bibliographic Resources about Tori Amos

This article provides a brief look into the academic resources available that examine Tori Amos’s music. The article begins with a brief biographical and original album overview before moving into the resources that a music librarian might use to assist a popular music scholar. The article begins by describing several websites available before moving into primary and secondary resources that examine Amos and her music.

Deep thoughts on ectomycorrhizal fungal communities

Deep thoughts on ectomycorrhizal fungal communities

Randomized Controlled Trial of Expressive Writing for Patients With Renal Cell Carcinoma

This randomized controlled trial examined the quality-of-life benefits of an expressive writing (EW) intervention for patients with renal cell carcinoma (RCC) and identified a potential underlying mechanism of intervention efficacy. Patients (N = 277) with stage I to IV RCC were randomly assigned to write about their deepest thoughts and feelings regarding their cancer (EW) or about neutral topics (neutral writing [NW]) on four separate occasions. Patients completed the Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale (CES-D), MD Anderson Symptom Inventory (MDASI), Brief Fatigue Inventory (BFI), Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI), Medical Outcomes Study Short Form-36 (SF-36), and Impact of Event Scale (IES) at baseline and 1, 4, and 10 months after the intervention. The mean age of participants (28% stage IV; 41% female) was 58 years. Multilevel modeling analyses, using a Bonferroni-corrected α = .021 for six outcomes adjusted for the correlation among outcomes, revealed that, relative to the NW group, patients in the EW group reported significantly lower MDASI scores (P = .003) and higher physical component summary scores on the SF-36 (P = .019) at 10 months after the intervention. Mediation analyses revealed that significant group differences for MDASI scores at 10 months were mediated by lower IES scores at 1 month after the intervention in the EW group (P = .042). No significant group differences were observed in the BFI, CES-D, PSQI, and mental component summary of the SF-36. EW may reduce cancer-related symptoms and improve physical functioning in patients with RCC. Evidence suggests that this effect may occur through short-term improvements in cognitive processing.

Harnessing benefits of helping others: A randomized controlled trial testing expressive helping to address survivorship problems after hematopoietic stem cell transplant.

Prior research supports the hypothesis that cancer survivors who help others face treatment experience a range of psychosocial and health-related benefits as a result of peer helping. This study investigates an expressive helping (EH) intervention designed to harness those benefits by targeting survivorship problems among cancer survivors treated with hematopoietic stem cell transplant. EH includes two components: (a) emotionally expressive writing (EW; writing one's deepest thoughts and feelings about the transplant experience in a series of brief, structured writing sessions) followed by (b) peer helping (PH; helping other people prepare for transplant by sharing one's own transplant experiences along with advice and encouragement through a written narrative). EH was compared with neutral writing (NW), EW (without PH), and PH (without EW) in a 4-arm randomized controlled trial in which survivors completed baseline measures, 4 structured writing exercises (with instructions depending on randomization), and postintervention measures including validated measures of general psychological distress, physical symptoms, and health-related quality of life (HRQOL). Among survivors with moderate-severe survivorship problems, EH reduced distress (compared with NW and PH; ps < .05) and improved physical symptoms (compared with NW, PH, and EW; ps < .002) and HRQOL (compared with NW; p = .02). Peer helping through writing benefits transplant survivors with moderate-severe survivorship problems, but only if they have first completed expressive writing.