getting people to talk about the thoughts that trouble them most has a beneficial medical effect.44 His method is remarkably simple: he asks people to write, for fifteen to twenty minutes a day over five or so days, about, for example, "the most traumatic experience of your entire life," or some pressing worry of the moment. What people write can be kept entirely to themselves if they like. The net effect of this confessional is striking: enhanced immune function, significant drops in health-center visits in the following six months, fewer days missed from work, and even improved liver enzyme
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Writing Diary
