Comparing Targets of Expressive Writing

Trustees of Princeton University

Status: Active, not recruiting

Conditions: Healthy; Depression; Anxiety

Treatments: Behavioral: Expressive Writing: Other; Behavioral: Factual Writing; Behavioral: Expressive Writing: Self

Study type: Interventional

Funder types: Other

Identifiers

NCT06130020

Princeton15734

Details and patient eligibility

About

Expressive writing involves writing about one's deepest thoughts and feelings surrounding an emotional event. The current literature on the efficacy of expressive writing is mixed and warrants further investigation into how, when, and for whom expressive writing is an effective intervention. The goal of this study is to compare the efficacy of expressive writing interventions in young adults when people imagine that they're writing to themselves vs. a loved one. Participants will carry out an expressive writing exercise for 14 consecutive days. Participants are randomized into 3 groups: Self, Other, and Control. The Self group is instructed to write as if they were talking to themselves. The Other group is instructed to direct their writing to someone they feel close to. The Control group is asked to write down a factual description of their routine that day, and direct this writing to themselves. We will recruit participants until we have usable data from 53 participants per group (i.e., 159 in total).

Enrollment: 159 estimated patients

Sex: All

Ages: 18 to 25 years old

Volunteers: Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Inclusion criteria

• US-based
• Fluent English
• Combined GAD-7 and PHQ-8 score of ≥ 5

Exclusion criteria

• "Completion" of a writing session requires participants to spend at least 15 minutes on the writing page. We will monitor completion of the daily writing exercise, and will contact participants who miss or spend less than 15 minutes on the exercise. Participants who fail to complete 3 consecutive daily writing sessions will be deemed non-compliant, removed from the study, and paid a prorated amount for the tasks they have completed in the study.

Trial design

Primary purpose: Treatment

Allocation: Randomized

Interventional model: Parallel Assignment

Masking: Single Blind

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159 participants in 3 patient groups, including a placebo group

Self

Experimental group

Description:

The Self group is instructed to carry out the expressive writing exercise as if they were writing to themselves.

Treatment:

Behavioral: Expressive Writing: Self

Other

Experimental group

Description:

The Other group is instructed to carry out the expressive writing exercise as if they were writing to someone they feel close to.

Treatment:

Behavioral: Expressive Writing: Other

Control

Placebo Comparator group

Description:

The Control group is asked to write down a factual description of their routine that day, as if they were writing to themselves.

Treatment:

Behavioral: Factual Writing