TABLE 4.

Details of the Expressive Writing Studies Reviewed

Authors	Study Year	Study Design	No. of Participants	Study Population	Variables Measured	Findings
Petrie et al.83	2004	Randomized controlled trial (emotional or control topics)	37	HIV patients	CD4+ lymphocyte count and viral load	Postintervention improvements CD4+ lymphocyte counts
Graham et al.84	2008	Randomized controlled trial (anger expression or writing about goals nonemotionally)	102	Chronic illness patients	Letter writing on 2 occasions, coded for degree of expressed anger and meaning making	Improvements in anger expression group in control over pain, depressed mood, and pain severity
Junghaenel et al.85	2008	Randomized controlled trial (emotional disclosure, neutral, or usual care)	92	Fibromyalgia patients	Pain, well-being, fatigue	Improvements in interpersonally distressed group in psychological well-being, pain, and fatigue.
Gillis et al.86	2006	Randomized controlled trial (4 days of writing at home and control)	72	Fibromyalgia patients	At-home written emotional disclosure; mood effects and changes in health from baseline to 1 month and 3 months	Immediate improvements in written disclosure group in negative mood; at 1 month, disclosure led to few health benefits; at 3 months, negative mood and social support effects disappeared, and written disclosure decreased poor sleep, health care use, and physical disability
Broderick et al.87	2005	Randomized controlled trial (trauma writing, control writing, usual care)	92	Fibromyalgia patients	Quality of life, anxiety, depression, pain, fibromyalgia	Trauma writing decreased pain, fatigue, and psychological well-being at 4 months; benefits were not maintained at 10 months