Maintaining Mental Health Through Positive Writing: Effects of a Resource Diary on Depression and Emotion Regulation

The present study investigated the beneficial effects of the resource-oriented positive writing intervention resource diary (RD) on mental health variables among patients recently discharged from psychiatric inpatient treatment.

Eighty-nine patients were randomly assigned to either an intervention group completing RD over the course of 4 weeks (n = 45) or a control group receiving no intervention (n = 44). To measure changes in mental health, patients filled out a number of self-report questionnaires on depression, emotion regulation, and resource activation before and after the intervention.  RESULTS: Participants completing RD had significantly lower depression scores than controls and reported an increased use of the functional emotion regulation strategy "reappraisal" 5 weeks after discharge. A decreased use of the dysfunctional strategy "expressive suppression" was found in the female subsample. No differences were found for resource activation.

These findings suggest that a resource-oriented positive writing intervention has potential for stabilizing mental health after psychiatric discharge and could therefore present an economical alternative or addition to established aftercare programs.