Self-Immersed Expressive Writing Increases LF/HF Ratio and Decreases Expressive Suppression

Abstract: Expressive writing helps the disclosure of an emotionally charged event, in a safe and nonthreatening environment, while focusing on the feelings and emotions associated with a traumatic experience. Studies have proposed that expressive writing improves both mental and physical health, and that writing perspective might influence expressive writing outcomes. However, no studies have compared both emotion regulation outcomes and Heart-Rate Variability between self-immersed (I) and self-distancing expressive writing (She/He). Two hundred and one college students at a university were randomly assigned to either an expressive group, writing about their most upsetting life experience (using either a self-immersed or distanced perspective), or a control group (using either a self-immersed or distanced perspective), writing about their daily routine. Positive and negative affect, emotion regulation, anxiety and alexithymia were measured before and after writing. Heart-rate variability was recorded during the experiment to examine the effects of the writing exercise on the autonomous nervous system. We found that suppression decreased at follow-up (η 2 p = .023) and LF/HF ratio increased after writing (η 2 p = .031) in the self-immersed expressive group, in comparison to the self-immersed control group. These are promising results as they suggest that self-immersed expressive writing might be used to foster emotion regulation.