An article in the New York Times (26 February 2008) attests to the value of journaling for cancer patients. It begins:“When my mother was first diagnosed with cancer, she did something she had never done before. She started to write down her feelings.
My mother had always been too busy for something she felt was as indulgent as keeping a journal, but in the early days of her cancer diagnosis, she found that writing down her thoughts helped her cope with the prospect of dying.
This month, a medical journal confirms what many cancer patients intuitively know. Expressive writing, which involves writing down your deepest thoughts and feelings, may improve the quality of life for cancer patients, according to a new report in The Oncologist.
Previous research conducted in controlled laboratory experiments has suggested that expressive writing helps physical and psychological well-being. However, the recent study was a real-world experiment, conducted in the waiting rooms of an oncology practice."
The entire article can be read at this link:
Tara Parker-Pope, ‘The Power of Words for Cancer Patients’, New York Times, 26 February 2008.
Image: “writing down your deepest thoughts and feelings…”