According to the bio-informational theory, emotional processing is dependent upon memory network access, which can occur via a variety of input paths including both imagery processing and language cues. Response training has been found to increase efferent output, and thus emotional processing in script based imaginal exposure interventions (Lang, Kozak, Miller, Levin, &McLean, 1980;Lang, Levin, Miller, &Kozak, 1983). If, as research suggests (Sloan &Marx, 2004a;Sloan, Marx, &Epstein, in press;Epstein, Sloan, &Marx, in press) writing about a traumatic experience is a form of exposure, then response training would be expected to increase efferent output and promote emotional processing in writing as well. The current study will be the first to examine the impact of response training on psychological and health outcomes utilizing Pennebaker's writing paradigm. If response training improves outcomes, the study will lend empirical support to the hypothesis that writing is a form of exposure, and will have implications for how writing can most effectively be integrated with, or used as an adjunct to, traditional therapeutic approaches.
| Sheerin, Christina M; Konig, Andrea; Eonta, Alison M et al. (2018) Effect of expressive and neutral writing on respiratory sinus arrhythmia response over time. J Behav Ther Exp Psychiatry 59:129-133 |
| Konig, Andrea; Eonta, Alison; Dyal, Stephanie R et al. (2014) Enhancing the benefits of written emotional disclosure through response training. Behav Ther 45:344-57 |
