The Effects of Written Emotional Disclosure on Eating Disorder Pathology in a Clinical Eating Disordered Population

NCT ID: NCT00766558

Last Updated: 2017-06-20

Basic Information

• Recruitment Status: COMPLETED
• Total Enrollment: 29 participants
• Study Classification: OBSERVATIONAL
• Study Start Date: 2009-06-30
• Study Completion Date: 2013-07-31

Brief Summary

A technique that has been found to be effective at relieving the physical and psychological symptoms associated with inhibiting emotions and emotional thoughts is written emotional disclosure. The goal of this study is to evaluate the effectiveness of written emotional disclosure on the remediation of eating disorder behaviour, cognitions, and management of emotions.

Detailed Description

New Partial program participants complete a packet of questionnaires during their initial appointment, which will be used as baseline levels of eating disorder symptoms and psychological health. Participants will complete the writing as part of their eating disorder therapy. The writing will be completed individually. The writing will consist of continuous writing for fifteen minutes on three consecutive days. The experimental group will write about traumatic or stressful experiences, while the control group will objectively describe events. A post-writing packet of questionnaires will be completed one week after completing the writing. A follow-up evaluation will occur four-weeks after completion of the post-writing packet and will include completing a packet of questionnaires and debriefing.

Conditions

Anorexia Nervosa; Bulimia Nervosa; Eating Disorder

Study Design

• Observational Model Type: COHORT
• Study Time Perspective: PROSPECTIVE

Study Groups

1 Disclosure

Traumatic writing prompts provided. Participant is assigned a potential stress-producing topic for written disclosure.

No interventions assigned to this group

2 control

Received nontraumatic writing prompts. Participant assigned a non-stressful writing condition

No interventions assigned to this group

Eligibility Criteria

Inclusion Criteria

• Willing to sign consent form

Exclusion Criteria

• Unwilling to sign consent form

• Minimum Eligible Age: 14 Years
• Maximum Eligible Age: 50 Years
• Eligible Sex: ALL
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: No

Sponsors

Milton S. Hershey Medical Center

OTHER

Sponsor Role: lead

Responsible Party

Responsibility Role: SPONSOR

Principal Investigators

Richard L Levine, MD

Role: PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATOR

Penn State College of Medicine

Locations

Penn State College of Medicine

Hershey, Pennsylvania, United States

Countries

United States

References

Pennebaker, J. W., Chung, C. K., Ireland, M., Gonzales, A., and Booth, R. J. (2007). The development and psychometric properties of LIWC2007. Retrieved June 1, 2008, from Linguistic Inquiry and Word Count web site http://www.LIWC.net/liwcdescription.php

Reference Type: BACKGROUND

Pennebaker, J. W. and Francis, M. E. (1996). Cognitive, emotional, and language processes in disclosure. Cognition and Emotion, 10, 601-626.

Reference Type: BACKGROUND

Pennebaker JW, Kiecolt-Glaser JK, Glaser R. Disclosure of traumas and immune function: health implications for psychotherapy. J Consult Clin Psychol. 1988 Apr;56(2):239-45. doi: 10.1037//0022-006x.56.2.239. No abstract available.

Reference Type: BACKGROUND

PMID: 3372832 (View on PubMed)

Petrie KJ, Booth RJ, Pennebaker JW. The immunological effects of thought suppression. J Pers Soc Psychol. 1998 Nov;75(5):1264-72. doi: 10.1037//0022-3514.75.5.1264.

Reference Type: BACKGROUND

PMID: 9866186 (View on PubMed)

Petrie KJ, Fontanilla I, Thomas MG, Booth RJ, Pennebaker JW. Effect of written emotional expression on immune function in patients with human immunodeficiency virus infection: a randomized trial. Psychosom Med. 2004 Mar-Apr;66(2):272-5. doi: 10.1097/01.psy.0000116782.49850.d3.

Reference Type: BACKGROUND

PMID: 15039514 (View on PubMed)

Quinton, S. and Wagner, H. L. (2005). Emotional expression, alexithymia, and characteristics associated with eating psychopathology in non-clinical women. Personality and Individual Differences, 38, 1163-1173.

Reference Type: BACKGROUND

Other Identifiers

28860

Identifier Type: -

Identifier Source: org_study_id