Self-medication may be the reason the blogosphere has taken off. Scientists (and writers) have long known about the therapeutic benefits of writing about personal experiences, thoughts and feelings. But besides serving as a stress-coping mechanism, expressive writing produces many physiological benefits. Research shows that it improves memory and sleep, boosts immune cell activity and reduces viral load in AIDS patients, and even speeds healing after surgery. A study in the February issue of the Oncologist reports that cancer patients who engaged in expressive writing just before treatment felt markedly better, mentally and physically, as compared with patients who did not.
Scientists now hope to explore the neurological underpinnings at play, especially considering the explosion of blogs. According to Alice Flaherty, a neuroscientist at Harvard University and Massachusetts General Hospital, the placebo theory of suffering is one window through which to view blogging. As social creatures, humans have a range of pain-related behaviors, such as complaining, which acts as a “placebo for getting satisfied,” Flaherty says. Blogging about stressful experiences might work similarly.
Flaherty, who studies conditions such as hypergraphia (an uncontrollable urge to write) and writer’s block, also looks to disease models to explain the drive behind this mode of communication. For example, people with mania often talk too much. “We believe something in the brain’s limbic system is boosting their desire to communicate,” Flaherty explains. Located mainly in the midbrain, the limbic system controls our drives, whether they are related to food, sex, appetite, or problem solving. “You know that drives are involved [in blogging] because a lot of people do it compulsively,” Flaherty notes. Also, blogging might trigger dopamine release, similar to stimulants like music, running and looking at art.
The frontal and temporal lobes, which govern speech—no dedicated writing center is hardwired in the brain—may also figure in. For example, lesions in Wernicke’s area, located in the left temporal lobe, result in excessive speech and loss of language comprehension. People with Wernicke’s aphasia speak in gibberish and often write constantly. In light of these traits, Flaherty speculates that some activity in this area could foster the urge to blog.
Scientists’ understanding about the neurobiology underlying therapeutic writing must remain speculative for now. Attempts to image the brain before and after writing have yielded minimal information because the active regions are located so deep inside. Recent functional magnetic resonance imaging studies have shown that the brain lights up differently before, during and after writing, notes James Pennebaker, a psychologist at the University of Texas at Austin. But Pennebaker and others remain skeptical about the value of such images because they are hard to duplicate and quantify.
Most likely, writing activates a cluster of neurological pathways, and several researchers are committed to uncovering them. At the University of Arizona, psychologist and neuroscientist Richard Lane hopes to make brain-imaging techniques more relevant by using those techniques to study the neuroanatomy of emotions and their expressions. Nancy Morgan, lead author of the Oncologist study, is looking to conduct larger community-based and clinical trials of expressive writing. And Pennebaker is continuing to investigate the link between expressive writing and biological changes, such as improved sleep, that are integral to health. “I think the sleep angle is one of the more promising ones,” he says.
Whatever the underlying causes may be, people coping with cancer diagnoses and other serious conditions are increasingly seeking—and finding—solace in the blogosphere. “Blogging undoubtedly affords similar benefits” to expressive writing, says Morgan, who wants to incorporate writing programs into supportive care for cancer patients.
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23 Comments
Add CommentOn the other hand, who wants to READ all that stuff?
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thiswoke up this mornin', already had those blogging blues, got nothing to say, and the urge to say it anyway, yeah, got nothing to say, and the urge to pollute the information super-highway, oh yeah got nothing to say ...
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisBlogging is like eating chocolate. Feels great when I'm writing but a touch of guilt sets in minutes later. (More than a little self-indulgent at times, isn't it?) Guilt is wiped away when someone posts a comment to my articles. "YES! Someone's listening!" (Am I wrong, folks?) www.sciencecheerleadercom
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisI like to write and I want to blog. What am I supposed to blog about?
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisSpeak out, that is why the internet will win, a needed breakdown of this buddy to stuff to say your view, what if you have no buddy who is an editor, might as well blog if you say facts people will end up liking it, at least one or two, and it soothes the mind, what if nobody visits your blog???
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisThis article is really quite interesting, particularly because it has a very distinctive standpoint on this subject. I too believe that blogging is an important medium, and it should be valued as such. But let's not forget it is also a very contemporary innovation in the WWW. media sphere and we should always aim to increase the interconnectivity of peoples blogs (in the most efficient manner) to attempt to achieve the full potential of the medium for the long term.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to this--
Edited by Kevin07 at 05/23/2008 3:15 PM
I sent two comments about this issue, and they were not posted.Why?
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisirenealhanati
Seems similar to the reported curative results of creative expression on trauma victims. I think that writing is probably more restricted in application than pictorial expression, or creating with materials, or drama, but all of these clearly benefit from informed support - feedback from peers and/or trained counsellors.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisBlogging playing the role of agony aunt, do I belong to the same fold? I don't know.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisAs a young man currently undergoing treatment for a sarcoma growing on the surface of my right lung, I have found the various technologies afforded to me by the age of digital networking of immense benefit both in terms of my own approach to the illness, and also in shaping the reactions of others. Both FaceBook and blogging (www.playingthecancercard.blogspot.com) have allowed me to keep people up to date with the exact mechanics of my treatment plan (which may be gratuitous, it's hard to say...), but has also afforded me an outlet to explore the wry side of the entire cancer phenomenon. While I don't see it as necessarily being a technique that 'gets me through the day', I am grateful that I have a medium wherein I can partially socialise what is often a fairly isolating experience for people. Very interesting article.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisIt's the sharing. Pain shared is pain halved. I think most of us write (or talk or whatever) when we are in pain, whether physical or emotional. When we express that pain, it is a good thing for us. When someone else recognizes our pain, that is even better.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisJake
i suppose that could mean the blog world is full of some very sick people.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thiswhat about the effects of responding to an article about blogging?
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisAs the Membership Vice President for the National Association for Poetry Therapy, I am thrilled to see discussions about therapeutic writing here! But a caution: blogging can be alienating/isolating if there isn't response for one's writing. There is such value in being heard and responded to. NAPT offers training that leads to credentialling as a poetry therapist. You can learn more at www.poetrytherapy.org. I hope that we can put all of our resources together to learn more about the benefits and results of writing programs, whether they are virtual or in realtime. It's just so good to help others, is my general opinion. The benefits involve increased communication between patient and doctor, patient and family or friends, and among patients with similar diagnose, as well as increased trust and sense of involvement, decreased anxiety, fear, and powerlessness. I'm personally hoping that more oncology centers will hire Certified Poetry Therapists and Certified Applied Poetry Facilitators.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisI agree there's some health benefits in writing personal life. I wonder, however, if the same or similar effect would maintain if I write my stuff in foreign language. I often write blog in English (I am not a native English speaker) just to improve my skills.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisno theres not none at all
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisyou are being unclear
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisgood for you, practice your English.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisnndgnek
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thiswell the effects of that would be very unclear, of course, because of that you are not being specific about the question. Well the effects are danger of getting discriminated on your personal ideas. This is my final blog for the day.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisthanks you
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisThanks you very Much
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<a href="http://www.hikayeyaz.net" title="hikaye" target="_blank">hikaye</a>
Writing is indeed a good stress release mechanism, for one can express emotions and ideas with a blank sheet of paper, a listener which does not reply with approval or disapproval but just 'listen' silently...
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisBelogging can be a good thing to do when it involves a discussion of mutual interest to the beloggers. However, I think that personal issues need to be just as the word implies: personal. The reason for this is that our speech (in this case, our writing) has effect on the receiver (listener or reader), and this effect can be, sometimes demaging. I speak from experience. I read the Xanga entries from a person who is very dear to me whose entries were so expressive of suffering that it cought me off guard, thus leaving me wishing to remain ignorant. In other words, it seems that I suffered with him. By the way, it feels ok to write this.