Those who work in the palliative care sector, or those who take care of a sick family member, find it beneficial to write thoughts and emotions. Expressing moods or traumatic episodes in writing helps to re-elaborate and overcome them
The pen, or more modernly the keyboard of a computer, could usefully become part of the paraphernalia of health workers, not just to book laboratory tests or write recipes. These tools can in fact also be used to participate in expressive writing sessions aimed at overcoming negative moods, moments of stress and loss of therapeutic momentum. An indication that is especially valid for professionals who work in emotionally difficult departments, such as those dedicated to palliative care, the set of therapies, not only pharmacological, intended to improve as far as possible the quality of life of a terminally ill patient who is not otherwise curable, and of his family.
Compassionate fatigue
A recent research published in the journal Acta Biomedica by a group led by Chiara Cosentino, from the University of Parma, highlighted how expressive writing sessions can help operators better bear the burden of exposure to emotionally traumatic episodes and thus rearrange thoughts and emotions. Those who work in palliative care find themselves in contact with people who suffer both physically and emotionally. As much as one gets used to such exposure, many traders face some sort of compassionate fatigue, the repercussions of which become evident both in the workplace and in personal life. Beyond a certain level of emotional load, specific disorders may also appear in the operator, such as sleep disturbances and states of tension and anguish. «Expressive writing is a real one therapy because it uses means and methods to cure and is applicable to both those who take care of the sick and those who are treated ”say the authors of the research. «If a psychological trauma is not treated adequately it can induce physiological changes in the organism, while telling in writing the traumatic episodes of one’s life is a way to relive and analyze them, to rearrange the thoughts and mental states connected to them. In this way a better process of understanding the event also develops ». The research was carried out involving 50 operators: nurses, social and health workers, auxiliaries, doctors, psychologists, who worked in various services and hospitals dedicated to palliative care based in central-northern Italy, and who were involved in this type of structures for at least six months.
Psychometric measurements
They were initially subjected to psychometric detection tests, repeated over time, after they had participated in expressive writing sessions if they were in the experimental group, or emotionally neutral writing sessions if they were in the control group. Expressive writing focused on thoughts, emotions and reactions to a stressful event in the workplace, while neutral writing objectively reported a work event without focusing on the cognitive and emotional aspects. Research results indicate that writing about a trauma psychological past helps to re-elaborate it, thus reducing physiological stress on the organism and therefore indicates that expressive writing can be considered a form of therapy “conclude the authors.
Exercise for caregivers
About one in ten adults offer support to a sick family member, disabled or elderly. It is the family caregiver, a stressful role that can facilitate depression, anxiety, stressful states. High frequencies of elevated blood pressure and reduced immune responses were found among caregivers. But writing down your emotions can have a positive effect on some of these conditions, as indicated by a recent systematic review by a group of researchers led by Christina Jones of the Royal Alexandra Children’s Hospital in Brighton, published in the journal Behavior Research and Therapy. The writing model refers to Written emotional disclosure (WED), a form of psychological treatment initially developed by social psychologists James Pennebaker and Sandra Beall. The writing exercise for i caregiver it must be carried out without worrying about the formal aspects (for example grammatical correctness) but aiming it at the free expression of one’s emotions, an intervention that is easy to implement and does not involve costs. “Our meta-analysis has shown that WED generally improves symptoms and health status in caregivers,” say the authors of the research, even if it does not change parameters such as depression, anxiety, intrusive thoughts. However, it must be borne in mind that the psychological treatment tested in the studies has a limited duration, while the condition of caregiver is by its nature protracted.
December 5, 2021 (change December 5, 2021 | 11:06 am)
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