Anxiety & Depression Association of America

Comparing Targets of Expressive Writing

Purpose

Expressive writing involves writing about one's deepest thoughts and feelings surrounding an emotional event. The current literature on the efficacy of expressive writing is mixed and warrants further investigation into how, when, and for whom expressive writing is an effective intervention. The goal of this study is to compare the efficacy of expressive writing interventions in young adults when people imagine that they're writing to themselves vs. a loved one. Participants will carry out an expressive writing exercise for 14 consecutive days. Participants are randomized into 3 groups: Self, Other, and Control. The Self group is instructed to write as if they were talking to themselves. The Other group is instructed to direct their writing to someone they feel close to. The Control group is asked to write down a factual description of their routine that day, and direct this writing to themselves. We will recruit participants until we have usable data from 53 participants per group (i.e., 159 in total).

Conditions

Healthy
Anxiety
Depression

Eligibility

Eligible Ages: Between 18 Years and 25 Years
Eligible Genders: All
Accepts Healthy Volunteers: Yes

Inclusion Criteria

US-based - Fluent English - Combined GAD-7 and PHQ-8 score of ≥ 5

Exclusion Criteria

"Completion" of a writing session requires participants to spend at least 15 minutes on the writing page. We will monitor completion of the daily writing exercise, and will contact participants who miss or spend less than 15 minutes on the exercise. Participants who fail to complete 3 consecutive daily writing sessions will be deemed non-compliant, removed from the study, and paid a prorated amount for the tasks they have completed in the study.

Study Design

Phase: N/A
Study Type: Interventional
Allocation: Randomized
Intervention Model: Parallel Assignment
Primary Purpose: Treatment
Masking: Single (Participant)

Arm Groups

Arm	Description	Assigned Intervention
Experimental Self	The Self group is instructed to carry out the expressive writing exercise as if they were writing to themselves.	Behavioral: Expressive Writing: Self This intervention consists of a daily expressive writing exercise carried out for 14 consecutive days, for 15 minutes each day. Expressive writing involves asking participants to write about their deepest thoughts and feelings surrounding an emotional event. Participants in this condition will write as if they are writing to themselves.
Experimental Other	The Other group is instructed to carry out the expressive writing exercise as if they were writing to someone they feel close to.	Behavioral: Expressive Writing: Other This intervention consists of a daily expressive writing exercise carried out for 14 consecutive days, for 15 minutes each day. Expressive writing involves asking participants to write about their deepest thoughts and feelings surrounding an emotional event. Participants in this condition will write as if they are writing/talking to someone they're close to.
Placebo Comparator Control	The Control group is asked to write down a factual description of their routine that day, as if they were writing to themselves.	Behavioral: Factual Writing This intervention consists of a daily factual writing exercise carried out for 14 consecutive days, for 15 minutes each day. Participants are asked to give a factual description of their day. This is a standard control for Expressive writing studies. Participants in this condition will be asked to direct their writing to themselves.

Recruiting Locations

More Details

Status: Recruiting
Sponsor: Trustees of Princeton University

Study Contact

Claire Whiting, MRes
(609) 258-5064
lemolab@princeton.edu

Notice

Study information shown on this site is derived from ClinicalTrials.gov (a public registry operated by the National Institutes of Health). The listing of studies provided is not certain to be all studies for which you might be eligible. Furthermore, study eligibility requirements can be difficult to understand and may change over time, so it is wise to speak with your medical care provider and individual research study teams when making decisions related to participation.