Many therapists recommend that their patients keep diaries, but blogging might be even better for mental health, a study suggests.Researchers in Israel recruited 160 nonblogging teenagers who had scored low on a test of social and emotional well-being. Participants were asked to blog about their problems for 10 weeks (under a pseudonym); to blog about anything they wished; or to keep a diary in an unshared computer file. There was also a control group. (click below to read more)
Before and after the experiment, the
teens took tests measuring their self-esteem and satisfaction with
interactions with peers; and their writing was also analyzed for clues
about their mental health.
By the end of the experiment, the
teenagers who had blogged about their problems showed more improvement
than the other groups—including those who'd kept a private diary. But
given the risks of disclosure, the authors said this kind of frank
blogging should occur only as part of a supervised treatment program.
"The Therapeutic Value of Adolescents' Blogging
About Social-Emotional Difficulties," Meyran Boniel-Nissim and Azy
Barak, Psychological Services (forthcoming)
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