Disclosure of traumas and immune function: Health implications for psychotherapy.

Abstract

Can psychotherapy reduce the incidence of health problems? A general model of psychosomatics assumes that inhibiting or holding back one's thoughts, feelings, andbehaviors is associated with long-term stress and disease. Actively confronting upsetting experiences--through writing r talk-ing-is hypothesized to reduce the negative effects o inhibition. Fifty healthy undergraduates were assigned to write about either traumatic experiences or superficial topics for4 consecutive days. Two measures of cellular immune-system function and health center visits suggested tha confronting traumatic experiences was physically beneficial. The implications for psychotherapy as a preventive treatment for health problems are discussed. There is little doubt that psychotherapy reduces ubjective distress and yields positive behavioral outcomes. In recent years, a small group of researchers has sought o learn whether psychotherapy can also reduce health problems. Two promising reviews have indicated that the use of mental health services is associated with fewer medical visits, fewer days of hospitaliza-tion, and lower overall medical costs. In a summary of 15 stud-

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