RLS Maybe: Writing_Away_Your_Pain?

[Guest guest]

My sister sent this to me and it does sound interesting. Think it could

help our RLS??????

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>A friend has sent you a Q&A from Ask Dr. Weil (http://www.drweil.com).

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>I have rheumatoid arthritis that's been getting worse over the years, and

my son keeps telling me that writing about it may help relieve the pain. I'm

open to healing alternatives but this sounds a bit far-fetched. What's your

opinion?

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>The idea of writing about your pain as a form of therapy isn't as

" far-fetched " as it may seem. Quite a few studies have shown that writing

about traumatic experiences actually improves immune function among healthy

people, and the most recent one, done at North Dakota State University and

published in last month's Journal of the American Medical Association, found

that people with asthma or

[http://cgi.pathfinder.com/drweil/database/display/0,1412,101,00.html]rheuma

toid arthritis who wrote about the stress in their lives found that their

symptoms were reduced. In an editorial accompanying the JAMA report,

Stanford University's Spiegel, M.D., a leading researcher of mind-body

interactions, applauded the

[http://www.ama-assn.org/sci-pubs/sci-news/1999/snr0414.htm#jpc90005] study

as a welcome addition to growing evidence that stress management through

writing can make medical treatment more effective.

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>This latest study involved 112 patients with either asthma or rheumatoid

arthritis. Researchers assigned the patients to write about either the most

stressful event in their lives or emotionally neutral topics, described

either as " [http://www.healthychoice.com/news/html/GoodNewsHealingWords.cfm]

confessional writing " or " expressive writing. " After four months, the

researchers found that the patients who wrote about stressful subjects were

significantly better. The asthma patients showed improved lung function, and

on average, the severity of disease among those with rheumatoid arthritis

patients was reduced by 28 percent. Overall 47 percent of the patients who

wrote about traumatic events had clinically relevant improvements compared

to only 24.3 of the patients in the control group who wrote about neutral

subjects.

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>If you're interested in trying therapeutic writing for yourself, you can

learn how (you do need some guidance) from one of several books on the

subject including

" [http://pathfinder.com/r0/shopping/bn_DRtext/out?http://bn.bfast.com/bookli

nk/click?sourceid=4133&ISBN=0062515195 " http://bn.bfast.com/booklink/serve?sourceid=4133&ISBN=0062515195 "

BORDER= " 0 " WIDTH= " 1 " HEIGHT= " 1 " ] http://pathfinder.com/r0/shopping/bn_DRtext/out?http://bn.bfast.com/bookli

nk/click?sourceid=4133&ISBN=0375402489 " http://bn.bfast.com/booklink/serve?sourceid=4133&ISBN=0375402489 "

BORDER= " 0 " WIDTH= " 1 " HEIGHT= " 1 " ] http://pathfinder.com/r0/shopping/bn_DRtext/out?http://bn.bfast.com/bookli

nk/click?sourceid=4133&ISBN=0446390380 " http://bn.bfast.com/booklink/serve?sourceid=4133&ISBN=0446390380 "

BORDER= " 0 " WIDTH= " 1 " HEIGHT= " 1 " ] http://www.journaltherapy.com] Center for Journal Therapy

or from [http://www.intensivejournal.org] Dialogue House Associates in New

York, established by Jungian psychologist Ira Progoff.

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>Dr. Weil

>http://www.drweil.com

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