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From the Department of Health Psychology (K.J.P., I.F.) and the Department of Molecular Medicine and Pathology (M.G.T., R.J.B.), University of Auckland, Auckland, New Zealand; and the Department of Psychology, University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX (J.W.P.).
Address reprint requests to: Keith Petrie, PhD, Department of Health Psychology, Faculty of Medical and Health Science, University of Auckland, Private Bag 92019, Auckland, New Zealand. E-mail: kj.petrie{at}auckland.ac.nz
OBJECTIVES: To determine whether writing about emotional topics compared with writing about neutral topics could affect CD4+ lymphocyte count and human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) viral load among HIV-infected patients.
METHODS: Thirty-seven HIV-infected patients were randomly allocated to 2 writing conditions focusing on emotional or control topics. Participants wrote for 4 days, 30 minutes per day. The CD4+ lymphocyte count and HIV viral load were measured at baseline and at 2 weeks, 3 months, and 6 months after writing.
RESULTS: The emotional writing participants rated their essays as more personal, valuable, and emotional than those in the control condition. Relative to the drop in HIV viral load, CD4+ lymphocyte counts increased after the intervention for participants in the emotional writing condition compared with control writing participants.
CONCLUSIONS: The results are consistent with those of previous studies using emotional writing in other patient groups. Based on the self-reports of the value of writing and the preliminary laboratory findings, the results suggest that emotional writing may provide benefit for patients with HIV infection.
Key Words: HIV infection, • disclosure, • emotional writing, • HIV viral load, • CD4+ lymphocyte count.
Abbreviations: HIV = human immunodeficiency virus;; AIDS = acquired immune deficiency syndrome;; ANOVA = analysis of variance.
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