Any health benefits through writing about Obesity?

September 25, 2010 10:22 AM

I've being researching about well-being and achieving this through self-disclosure (Pennebaker style) I've been narrowing my scope down to focus on how Pennebaker's style of writing has helped obese patients overcome psychological issues associated with obesity similar to other works on alcoholics and victims of traumatic experiences. I'm not a Psychologist so a lot of the research out there is unknown to me, so does anyone know of any papers or authors that address this? I've looked around but it might help if i have a lead or somewhere to start.
posted by jbw to Science & Nature (2 answers total)

Best answer: Well, Pennebaker has published a lot over the years, and I'm not a psychologist either, but these might be worth a look, if you haven't seen them already, given your description:

Pennebaker, James W.. 2003. The social, linguistic, and health consequences of emotional disclosure. In Suls, Jerry M.; Kenneth A. Wallston (Eds.), Social psychological foundations of health and illness; Cambridge, England: Blackwell. 288-313.

Pennebaker, James W.; Janel D. Seagal. 1999. Forming a story: The health benefits of narrative. Clinical Psychology 55.10. 1243-1254.

Pennebaker, James W.. 1991. Self-expressive writing: Implications for health, education, and welfare. In Belanoff, Pat, Elbow, Peter & Fontaine, Sheryl I. (Eds.), Nothing begins with N: New expressions of freewriting; Carbondale, IL: Southern Illinois University Press. 157-172.
posted by 5Q7 at 5:10 PM on September 25, 2010

And a recent one using Pennebaker around weight-loss issues:

Steven C. Ames, Gretchen E. Ames, Susanna R. Stevens, Christi A. Patten, Chudley E. Werch, Darrell R. Schroeder. "Effect of Expressive Writing as a Treatment Adjunct for Reducing Smoking Cessation Related Weight Gain in Young Adult Smokers." Substance Use & Misuse, 43.10 (2008): 1315-1325.

Not sure if it fits directly with your focus, but maybe related.
posted by 5Q7 at 5:22 PM on September 25, 2010