Abstract
We previously reported that in a population ofhealthy students, those able to involve themselvesdeeply and establish cognitive change during a 3-weekemotional disclosure exercise showed the greatest immunologic changes as reflected inEpstein-Barr virus antibody titer decrements. Thisreport examines the process components of thisthree-session verbal disclosure paradigm to clarify themechanisms by which disclosure may be related to changes inaffect, cognitive processing, and resolution of thestressor. Seventy-six healthy college undergraduateswere randomized to a three session 20-minute verbal disclosure induction in the presence of anexperimenter or to an assessment-only control group.Measures of mood were obtained by self-report at eachdisclosure session, and a measure of cognitiveprocessing of the stressor was obtained following thefirst disclosure and 1 week following the thirddisclosure. Taped disclosure sessions were rated forlevel of involvement in the session, and transcripts ofthe tapes were also rated for total word count.Individuals participating in the disclosure interventionshowed an increase in negative mood within the firstsession with a recovery of mood by the last session. Levels of intrusive thought decreased in alldisclosure subjects over the course of the study, ascompared to the controls whose levels of intrusivethought stayed the same. A model was tested predicting stressor resolution, and cognitive andaffective changes from process variables, includingdepth of involvement, quantity of expression (total wordcount), and total arousal of negative mood in alldisclosures. Greater depth of involvement significantlypredicted insight and greater recovery of mood by theend of the study. In contrast, use of more words duringdisclosure predicted higher levels of intrusion and of negative mood at the end of the study. Thesefindings suggest that involvement in the disclosureprocess is a key feature in resolution of a stressful ortraumatic event, and that it may function independently of affective arousal. In addition, submittinga traumatic event to a linguistic context itself did notseem to be the critical element in facilitatingintegration and assimilation.
