Effetti della tecnica della scrittura sul benessere e il controllo glicemico in soggetti diabetici con diversi livelli di alessitimia

The aims of the study were to assess the effects of Pennebaker’s writing technique on diabetic patients with a poor metabolic control (high values of HbA1c) and to study how alexithymia may affect writing effects on diabetic subjects. 16 subjects wrote 3 times about emotional topics related to their disease; the other 16 subjects were considered control group and didn’t write. 2 and 4 months after writing we collected new HbA1c values, that showed significant improvements in the writing group in comparison with the previous situation and with the control group. Similar results were obtained on subjective wellbeing as measured through the SCL-90. Moreover, a significant interaction between writing and alexythimia levels (measured by TAS-20) emerged: among low alexithymic subjects a significant improvement emerged in the writing group; among high alexithymics no change emerged in the writing group, while significant worsening was shown by high alexithymics who did not write The study shows that the writing technique may obtain beneficial effects on metabolic control and subjective well-being in people with Type 2 Diabetes, with possible preventive effects on the complications of the disease.

Rosa Pastena, Caterina Tabasso, Luisa Pepe, Paola Maida, Luigi Solano, Effetti della tecnica della scrittura sul benessere e il controllo glicemico in soggetti diabetici con diversi livelli di alessitimia in "PSICOLOGIA DELLA SALUTE" 1/2007, pp 127-145, DOI: