Does Disclosure of Emotions Facilitate Recovery From Bereavement? Evidence From Two Prospective Studies (original) (raw)

Grief work, disclosure and counseling: Do they help the bereaved?

Clinical Psychology Review, 2005

Bereavement is associated with increased risk of morbidity and mortality. How to protect the bereaved against extreme suffering and lasting health impairment remains a central research issue. It has been widely accepted that to adjust, the bereaved have to confront and express intense emotions accompanying their loss. It has further been assumed that others assist in this process, and that intervention programs are effective. To assess validity of these assumptions, this article reviews research on the impact of expressing and sharing emotions across four research domains (social support; emotional disclosure; experimentally induced emotional disclosure; and grief intervention). In none of these areas is there evidence that emotional disclosure facilitates adjustment to loss in normal bereavement. Implications of these findings are discussed. D 2005 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Emotional disclosure for whom?

Biological Psychology, 2005

Recent investigations have shown little evidence that written disclosure benefits bereaved individuals over a control condition. The present study hypothesized that the effectiveness of written disclosure for bereavement may be moderated by vagal tone, as indexed by respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA). Vagal tone has been identified as an important individual difference in depression. The present study investigated 35 bereaved participants in a longitudinal design, with participants writing each week for 3 weeks, and then participating in follow-up sessions 1 week and 1 month later. As with previous studies, bereaved participants showed improvement, although no differential improvement was seen in the emotional Disclosure group compared to a Control writing group. As hypothesized, however, those participants with the highest RSA benefited most from the written disclosure, while RSA level did not predict outcome in the control condition. Future research should investigate whether vagal tone moderates the impact of written disclosure for non-bereaved individuals.

Emotional disclosure for whom?:: A study of vagal tone in bereavement

2005

Recent investigations have shown little evidence that written disclosure benefits bereaved individuals over a control condition. The present study hypothesized that the effectiveness of written disclosure for bereavement may be moderated by vagal tone, as indexed by respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA). Vagal tone has been identified as an important individual difference in depression. The present study investigated thirty-five bereaved participants in a longitudinal design, with participants writing each week for three weeks, and then participating in follow-up sessions one-week and one-month later. As with previous studies, bereaved participants showed improvement, although no differential improvement was seen in the emotional disclosure group compared to a control writing group. As hypothesized, however, those participants with the highest RSA benefited most from the written disclosure, while RSA level did not predict outcome in the control condition. Future research should investigate whether vagal tone moderates the impact of written disclosure for non-bereaved individuals.

The efficacy of a brief internet-based self-help intervention for the bereaved

Behaviour Research and Therapy, 2010

Research so far has shown little evidence that written disclosure facilitates recovery from bereavement. There are good reasons to assume that written disclosure may only benefit those bereaved who are at risk for developing problems or who are experiencing significant psychological problems as a result of their loss, and only when appropriate writing instructions are used. Drawing on previous work in the area of post-traumatic stress, a writing intervention was designed to test these assumptions. Bereaved individuals, who were still significantly distressed by their loss, were randomly assigned to the intervention condition (N ¼ 460) or a waiting-list control condition (N ¼ 297). Both groups filled in questionnaires online at baseline, and 3 and 6 months later. The intervention was administered via e-mail immediately after baseline measurement. Results showed that writing decreased feelings of emotional loneliness and increased positive mood, in part through its effect on rumination. However, writing did not affect grief or depressive symptoms. Contrary to expectations, effects did not depend on participants' risk profile or baseline distress level. Implications of these findings are discussed.

The Moderating Effects of Previous Losses and Emotional Clarity on Bereavement Outcome

Journal of Loss & Trauma, 2012

The connections between complicated grief and traumatic stress have previously been investigated; however, the learning effects resulting from previous losses and emotional clarity are still unclear. Understanding these effects may shed more light on the general hypotheses of emotional aging. We aimed to assess the moderating effects of emotional clarity and previous losses on bereavement outcomes. This study evaluated 190 participants with a sociodemographic questionnaire, the Inventory of Complicated Grief, the Impact of Event Scale–Revised, and the Difficulties in Emotion Regulation Scale. The results confirm that previous losses change the relationship between complicated grief and trauma and that emotional clarity changes the association between previous losses and complicated grief.

When talking helps: A quantitative study of privacy and resilience after bereavement

2012

Using the theoretical framework of Communication Privacy Management, this study sought to determine how trait resilience, state hopefulness, distress disclosure, use of social networks, and boundary turbulence relate to bereaved spouses' life satisfaction. Bereaved spouses (N=149) completed questionnaires at Camp Widow, a weekend-long conference for bereaved spouses held in San Diego, from August 12-14, 2011. Participants were single, engaged or remarried. The average age of the participants is 46.24 years. The average age at time of bereavement reported was 43.71 years. The amount of time that had passed since the death of their spouse was 2.83 years, and the average time participants reported being married was 17.7 years. The percentage of participants who reported having children at the time of their spouse's death was 83.67%. Only 6% of participants were remarried at the time of the study. The average annual income reported by participants was $67, 689. Finally, 93% of participants were white, 142 were female and 7 were male. Using the data collected at Camp Widow, three structural equations models were evaluated for best fit to the data. Results indicate that trait resilience directly predicted state hopefulness, distress disclosure, and boundary turbulence, and that state hopefulness and boundary turbulence predicted life satisfaction. Resilience reported an indirect effect on life satisfaction. Results also indicate the model that best fit the data from the current study was the one in which the relationship between trait resilience and life satisfaction was mediated by state iii hopefulness, distress disclosure, use of social networks, and boundary turbulence. This study further supports the role of communication in the process of resilience. Possible avenues for further research are explored.