diarying bad for your health?

“Keeping a diary is bad for your health, say UK psychologists. They found that regular diarists were more likely than non-diarists to suffer from headaches, sleeplessness, digestive problems and social awkwardness.

“Although she does not have proof, Duncan speculates that diarists buck the usual trend because instead of a single, cathartic outpouring to offload trauma, diarists continually churn over their misfortunes and so never get over them. ‘It’s probably better not to get caught in a ruminative, repetitive cycle,’ she says.” — Dear diary, you make me sick in NewScientist

I wonder if blogging/online journaling differs from diarying in this fashion, given that writers have an audience. Do they still get caught in the cycle?

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16 thoughts on “diarying bad for your health?

  1. Jay

    I suspect, as with everything, that it depends on the person. If you are depressed, and that’s all you blog about, headaches will ensue for the writer and the reader. But, if you are a generally happy person, then the act of writing about your life, or your daily observations will not in itself cause digestive problems or social awkwardness. Unless talking about your blog to every stranger you meet is considered awkward.

  2. davee

    i think it’s the other way around, that the health issues came first. i tend to write in my private diary (non-blog) when i’m not feeling well, and when i’m feeling great i don’t write in it at all.

  3. Jacob Haller

    It seems like the researcher is drawing conclusions far beyond what the data will support. (The researcher admittedly acknowledges as much, both in the quotation you cited and in the second to last paragraph of the article.)

  4. Bibi's box

    Stop with your diary

    I don’t have a diary, but if you have one maybe could be better you read Dear diary, you make me sick. And don’t forget that some blogs are really a kind of online diary. Take care! via apophenia…

  5. doctor paradox

    sounds like another extremely weak argument in the vein of “self-reflection is bad for you – don’t do it!” i think it’s really weird that anyone would have the hubris to claim there is only one way to deal with psychic trauma, which is a “single, cathartic outpouring.” does *anybody* even really work that way?! personally, the kind of trauma i deal with and the trauma that i am aware of the folks around me dealing with is almost never the kind you can just “get over” in one fell swoop. it is bizarre to me that there is no acknowledgement of dealing with trauma as an ongoing process.

    given that she’s realllllly stretching her conclusions from a sample set of 94 Staffordshire U. students. i also find it weird that there is no taking account for what seems obvious – if people don’t have health problems/trauma to deal with, they won’t need to write about them (non-diarists). the fact that diarists can be correlated with greater health problems says absolutely nothing about whether or not diarying itself is causative. i think davee is likely correct, that having health problems might lead one naturally to diarying about them.

    is blogging more cathartic because the diaryist has an audience? i think the diaryist already has an audience – the self. blogging just makes it a larger audience, and also allows for external feedback – which probably does contribute something to the cathartic effect. i can certainly say that i keep a private journal much less frequently now that i blog.

  6. Abe

    I don’t know about diaries, but having a good blog has got to be one of the best signs that someone spends too much time in front of a computer… I certainly wouldn’t be surprised if a correlation between poor health and blogging shows up someday.

  7. Irina

    Funny how this is completely at odds with oodles of research on theraputic writing (studies done with repeated measures and replicated often). Funny also how the direction of causality there is so definite when (at least from the article in new scientist) the data is correlational and, in fact, seems lacking in some very important measures of difference. Could it not be that people who write diaries, write them because they are more depressed, sleep less well, have health problems, etc? Not only do the researchers go beyond the data, but the article (as often happens) is taking an unbalanced view of the research and fails to actually report important details. This reminds me of the first “Internet addiction” studies.

  8. Steven

    I have health issues, and I have emotional issues. I have found my blog to be in many ways very theraputic. I had my issues before my blog, and will likely continue to have some of them. Having an unbiased audience that supplies healthy feedback has been working wonders for me. I still slip into depression, but feel it is mainly caused by my unchanging life and health situation. As far as getting caught in any cycles, I was already there before I started blogging.

  9. Blog.org

    Keeping a diary makes you ill?

    A study reported in New Scientist found regular diarists were more likely than non-diarists to suffer from headaches, sleeplessness, digestive…

  10. jake

    I think a blog connects. if you feel more connected to other people, I reckon your health probably improves.

  11. Mel

    Like Davee, I used to only diary when things weren’t going well and I needed to sort my thoughts out. Just having an outlet allowed me to go through the range of emotions I was feeling and put me face to face with my own constructions. I often found that putting those thoughts down would force me to address the more irrational or unproductive aspects of my thinking. So in that sense I think diarying can be extremely helpful (though I’ve found other ways to process things since then). And, on a more political level, diaries offer a space to consider or engage those aspects of ourselves (sexuality, identity, gender, class, etc) that we might not be able to explore in our public lives. Women, in particular, have traditionally used diaries as a space to process feelings and thoughts that were deemed inappropriate, outrageous, or, even, illegal.

    I also agree with Jake. That community and connection can help an isolated person – ideological, culturally, psychologically, socially – find others who relate to their issues and feelings and perhaps build upon or offer advice and support based on shared experiences and perceptions. This is especially important for any person who does not see themselves reflected in mainstream culture. LGBT youth, for example, particularly those living in isolated communities, who may not have *anyone* to talk to benefit from the space of a blank page – whether in a notebook or online – onto which to express a self that has no other space to exist.

  12. Saltation

    Correlation is not Causation.

    People suffering her cited symptoms are far more likely to keep diaries than those not. This is pretty elementary self-selection bias.

  13. Saltation

    Correlation is not Causation.

    People suffering her cited symptoms are far more likely to keep diaries than those not. This is pretty elementary self-selection bias.

  14. Michael

    I started keeping a daily diary exactly one year ago tomorrow. Before I did this, I had a reputation for being very fiery. Since I’ve been writing every day, I find that I can work out my frustrations without causing relationship problems. It’s worked to such an extent that those who knew me previously can’t believe the changes and those who didn’t know me don’t believe those who did!

    Yes, we may go over the same ground several times over the space of several days, but at least we have learned to control ourselves. I used to have sleeplessness and stomach problems and headaches before I started keeping a journal. Now, they’ve almost disappeared!

  15. Bibi's box

    Stop with your diary

    I don’t have a diary, but if you have one maybe could be better you read Dear diary, you make me sick. And don’t forget that some blogs are really a kind of online diary. Take care! via apophenia…

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