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Relationship between diary-keeping and tendencies toward alexithymia and rumination
1Graduate School of Comprehensive Human Sciences, University of Tsukuba, 1-1-1 Tennoudai Tsukuba, Ibaraki 305-8572, Japan. s-yukawa@human.tsukuba.ac.jp
Psychological Reports
|March 27, 2009
Summary
Writing a regular diary about daily events, rather than emotions, helps with emotional processing and reduces negative rumination. Online diaries, however, may increase difficulties in emotional identification and rumination control.
Area of Science:
- Psychology
- Clinical Psychology
- Health Psychology
Background:
- Alexithymia is characterized by difficulties in identifying and describing one's own emotions.
- Rumination involves repetitive and passive focus on negative feelings and problems.
- Diary-keeping is a self-reflective practice with potential psychological benefits.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the relationship between different diary-keeping methods and tendencies toward alexithymia and rumination.
- To explore how the content focus (epic vs. lyrical) in regular diaries affects emotional processing and rumination.
- To examine the impact of internet-based diary-keeping on emotional processing and rumination.
Main Methods:
- A questionnaire assessed diary-keeping habits (regular, web-based), alexithymia, and rumination in 118 Japanese participants.
- Participants' diary content was categorized based on focus: epic (actions/events) versus lyrical (emotions).
- Statistical analyses were used to compare groups based on diary-keeping habits and content.
Main Results:
- Regular diary-keepers focusing on epic content reported less difficulty identifying/describing feelings and controlling rumination compared to lyrical writers.
- Individuals who sometimes used internet diaries found it more difficult to identify/describe feelings and control rumination than non-diary keepers.
- Lyrical regular diary-keepers reported greater difficulty with emotional processing and rumination control than epic regular diary-keepers.
Conclusions:
- The way individuals engage with diary-keeping significantly influences emotional processing and rumination.
- Epic-focused regular diary-keeping may be a beneficial tool for managing alexithymia and rumination.
- Internet diary-keeping, as practiced by some, may be associated with increased challenges in emotional regulation.
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