UCLA

The human experience is marked by emotion. Particularly with regard to distressing emotions, a commonly endorsed belief in the lay public and some clinical circles is that reflecting on and disclosing one’s emotions will reduce reactivity and buffer negative impact (McDaniel et al., 1981; Papageorgiou & Wells, 2001; Scheff, 2007; Wilson & Gilbert, 2008). However, findings from studies examining the effects of emotional reflection and expression on psychological and physical well-being are mixed. Although some research indicates that analyzing and verbalizing one’s emotions facilitates adaptive coping and psychological adjustment (e.g., Martin & Tesser, 1996; Pennebaker & Graybeal, 2001; Smyth, 1998; Stanton & Low, 2012; Wilson & Gilbert, 2008), other findings suggest that examining and expressing one’s emotions engenders rumination, ultimately intensifying negative affect (Mor & Winquist, 2002; Nolen-Hoeksema et al., 2008; Smith & Alloy, 2009).

The present research aims to investigate the conditions that facilitate adaptive emotional reflection and expression among individuals facing profoundly challenging stressors. Three interrelated studies explore the constructs of psychological distance (i.e., adopting a less personal perspective of one’s experiences), universality (i.e., viewing one’s experiences as shared by other people), and generativity (i.e., using one's experiences to benefit others) as factors hypothesized to facilitate adaptive emotional reflection and expression with regard to psychological and physical well-being. Study 1 examined linguistic indicators of psychological distance in expressive writing essays as a predictor of subsequent depressive symptoms in a sample of women diagnosed with metastatic breast cancer (N = 31). Study 2 was an experimental study that built on Study 1 to examine perceptions of psychological distance and universality in expressive writing essays altered to include linguistic indicators of psychological distance, and potentially universality (N = 171). Study 3 explored the influence of the social context surrounding emotional expression on adjustment using an experimental design. Specifically, an expressive helping intervention designed to facilitate emotional processing, psychological distance, a sense of universality, and generativity was compared to traditional expressive writing and a fact-writing control condition in a sample of bereaved young adults (N = 178).

Results from Study 1 indicated that linguistic indices of psychological distance significantly predicted declines in depressive symptoms 3 months after expressive disclosure, accounting for 24% of the variance in depressive symptoms. Findings from Study 2 demonstrated that participants who read essays altered to include linguistic indicators of psychological distance from Study 1 evidenced significantly greater perceptions of the essay author’s psychological distance and universality compared to participants who read the unaltered essays. Results from Study 3 revealed that participants in the expressive helping condition exhibited significant improvements in the primary outcomes of well-being and grief-related distress 2 months after engaging in the intervention relative to participants in the traditional expressive disclosure and fact-writing control conditions. In addition, findings supported the mediating roles of psychological distance, universality, and generativity in these observed improvements. Collectively, these studies demonstrate that psychological distance, universality, and generativity are important factors that can aid in facilitating adaptive emotional reflection and expression, especially in the context of severe stressors.