mostly research stuff
…according to a study at staffordshire university led by david sheffield, people who keep diaries are not likely to realize magical trauma recovery through the traditionally cathartic exercise of logging teary-eyed entries into a journal…in fact, their study showed that ‘diarists’ were “more likely than non-diarists to suffer from headaches, sleeplessness, digestive problems and social awkwardness“…summary is up at new scientist…
they took 135 people into a study, 94 were regular diary junkies (as in, “today i…no, that wasn’t me” [thanks to s. wright for that]), and 41 were not diary-types (as in, “a diary? you whiny shit, just say it out loud!”)…they were writing about all sorts of crap, though those who wrote about traumatic experiences in particular were in the worst health…suffering from headaches and stress…and an interesting theory by a contributor to the study suggests - with no proof - that the reason for this is the tendency of diarists to recycle traumatic experiences as ongoing diary fodder, continually revisiting the incident(s), doing some mental forensic analysis, resulting in an inability to move on…
so if you blog, keep it light like me baby!… like in my case, i’m never gonna write about the different women who have fucked me up for life, or how i talk to my dog and how her partial blindness leaves me feeling somehow responsible (i know, it’s not my fault)…because the biggest risk is this: worrying may cause cancer!
this blog is mostly safe for work, though i sometimes throw around a 'fuck' or two. you'll find a bunch of my articles from CI Magazine, SCIP online, other research pieces and some other crap. enjoy. there's lost of content here related to getting information about, around, from and through people and organizations...
matt
September 10th, 2004 at 3:16 pm
Is it because of the “revisiting” theory, or is it because a large amount of people who diary every day are the poop-soul, gloom cookie types that are more prone to the anxiety syndroms?
As a former poop-soul I feel I can ask.
Sean
September 13th, 2004 at 6:01 pm
Sob, I’ve been wasting my time. That explains the headaches too.
Mike
November 4th, 2005 at 4:35 am
Damn it! I am going to throw out my diary after I read this study. :(