Blogging--It's Good for You

The therapeutic value of blogging becomes a focus of study

By Jessica Wapner

Self-medication may be the reason the blogosphere has taken off. Scientists (and writers) have
long known about the therapeutic benefits of writing about personal experiences, thoughts and
feelings. But besides serving as a stress-coping mechanism, expressive writing produces many
physiological benefits. Research shows that it improves memory and sleep, boosts immune
cell activity and reduces viral load in AIDS patients, and even speeds healing after surgery. A
study in the February issue of the Oncologist reports that cancer patients who engaged in
expressive writing just before treatment felt markedly better, mentally and physically, as
compared with patients who did not.

Scientists now hope to explore the neurological underpinnings at play, especially considering
the explosion of blogs. According to Alice Flaherty, a neuroscientist at Harvard University
and Massachusetts General Hospital, the placebo theory of suffering is one window through
which to view blogging. As social creatures, humans have a range of pain-related behaviors,
such as complaining, which acts as a “placebo for getting satisfied,” Flaherty says. Blogging
about stressful experiences might work similarly.

Flaherty, who studies conditions such as hypergraphia (an uncontrollable urge to write) and
writer’s block, also looks to disease models to explain the drive behind this mode of
communication. For example, people with mania often talk too much. “We believe something
in the brain’s limbic system is boosting their desire to communicate,” Flaherty explains.
Located mainly in the midbrain, the limbic system controls our drives, whether they are
related to food, sex, appetite, or problem solving. “You know that drives are involved [in
blogging] because a lot of people do it compulsively,” Flaherty notes. Also, blogging might
trigger dopamine release, similar to stimulants like music, running and looking at art.

The frontal and temporal lobes, which govern speech—no dedicated writing center is
hardwired in the brain—may also figure in. For example, lesions in Wernicke’s area, located
in the left temporal lobe, result in excessive speech and loss of language comprehension.
People with Wernicke’s aphasia speak in gibberish and often write constantly. In light of these
traits, Flaherty speculates that some activity in this area could foster the urge to blog.

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Scientists’ understanding about the neurobiology underlying therapeutic writing must remain
speculative for now. Attempts to image the brain before and after writing have yielded
minimal information because the active regions are located so deep inside. Recent functional
magnetic resonance imaging studies have shown that the brain lights up differently before,
during and after writing, notes James Pennebaker, a psychologist at the University of Texas at
Austin. But Pennebaker and others remain skeptical about the value of such images because
they are hard to duplicate and quantify.

Most likely, writing activates a cluster of neurological pathways, and several researchers are
committed to uncovering them. At the University of Arizona, psychologist and neuroscientist
Richard Lane hopes to make brain-imaging techniques more relevant by using those
techniques to study the neuroanatomy of emotions and their expressions. Nancy Morgan, lead
author of the Oncologist study, is looking to conduct larger community-based and clinical
trials of expressive writing. And Pennebaker is continuing to investigate the link between
expressive writing and biological changes, such as improved sleep, that are integral to health.
“I think the sleep angle is one of the more promising ones,” he says.

Whatever the underlying causes may be, people coping with cancer diagnoses and other
serious conditions are increasingly seeking—and finding—solace in the blogosphere.
“Blogging undoubtedly affords similar benefits” to expressive writing, says Morgan, who
wants to incorporate writing programs into supportive care for cancer patients.

Some hospitals have started hosting patient-authored blogs on their Web sites as clinicians
begin to recognize the therapeutic value. Unlike a bedside journal, blogging offers the added
benefit of receptive readers in similar situations, Morgan explains: “Individuals are
connecting to one another and witnessing each other’s expressions—the basis for forming a
community.”

This article was originally printed with the title, "The Healthy Type".

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Neuroforschung Bloggen ist gut für die

Gesundheit
In den Augen vieler stellen Weblogs eine Revolution dar. Mit verhältnismäßig geringem
technischen Aufwand können Menschen sich heute dank ihrer Blogs im Web präsentieren,
kommunizieren, informieren, kreativ werden, an den Massenmedien vorbei publizieren und
Meinungen austauschen. Ein bis dato weniger beachteter Aspekt der digitalen Textproduktion
ist, dass Bloggen auch positive Effekte auf die Gesundheit hat.

Man sollte natürlich stets skeptisch sein, wenn einem von Website-News oder Kurztextspalten
der "Vermischtes"-Seite irgendeiner Zeitung ein Halbsatz "Forscher haben herausgefunden,
dass ..." entgegengepfeffert wird. Zu oft erweisen sich die geschilderten Erkenntnisse bei
genauerem Hinsehen nämlich als von obskuren Instituten ohne Rennomée erlangt, verkürzt
wiedergegeben, nicht so ganz verstanden oder gar komplett falsch abgeschrieben. Im
vorliegenden Fall erscheint die Argumentation aber recht schlüssig, weswegen wir sie den
Gulli:News-Lesern, die einen Blick über den Tellerrand wagen, nicht vorenthalten möchten.

Forscher haben herausgefunden, dass Bloggen von Vorteil für die Gesundheit sein kann. Wie
das Magazin "Scientific American" berichtet, haben aktuelle medizinische Erhebungen
ergeben, dass durch die Textproduktion merkliche positive Effekte auf die Gedächtnisleistung
und Schlaf ausgehen können. Bloggen kann bei AIDS-Patienten die Bildung von
Immunzellen erhöhen, die Virenverbreitung hemmen und die körperliche Regeneration nach
einer Therapie beschleunigen. Eine vergleichende Studie des "Oncologist" habe ergeben, dass
es Krebspatienten, die vor der Behandlung schreiben, physisch und mental erheblich besser
ginge als solchen, die das nicht täten.

Der Scientific American verweist im folgenden auf mehrere Neurowissenschaftler, die auf der
Suche nach Erklärungen für das Phänomen sind. Es besteht die Vermutung, dass durch die
erhöhte Ausschüttung des Neurotransmitters Dopamin, im Volksmund als Glückshormon
bekannt, das Schreiben eine Kompensation für Stresserlebnisse ist. Die Forscher zeichnen
unter anderem Hirnaktivitäten von Bloggern während des Schreibprozesses auf, um die
neuralen Vorgänge besser zu verstehen.

Da Kranken-Blogs, neben dem individuell die Genesung unterstützenden Effekt, auch

anderen Patienten in ähnlichen Situationen helfen können, gibt es bereits erste Krankenhäuser,
die ihren Patienten Schreibprogramme anbieten.
Ein wenig schade am "Scientific American"-Artikel ist, dass er sich überwiegend auf die
neurobiologische Implikationen konzentriert. In der medizinischen Theorie ist die Erkenntnis,
dass körperliche Gesundheit und die geistige Verfasstheit eines Menschen in engem
Zusammenhang stehen, schließlich längst bekannt. So sind etwa Menschen mit Depression
anfälliger für Krankheiten, solche mit einer positiven Lebenseinstellung haben eine höhere
Lebenserwartung. Der Gedanke also, dass Bloggen wie eine kleine Psychotherapie wirken
kann, liegt gar nicht mal so fern.

Wer seine Gedanken, Ängste und Frustrationen niederschreibt, der ordnet sie innerlich, teilt
sich mit und schafft sich selbst ein Ventil. Das Feedback, welches man beim Bloggen im
besten Fall bekommt und das es vom persönlichen Tagebuch abhebt, kann dem Kranken das
Gefühl geben, gehört zu werden, nicht unverstanden und allein in seiner Situation zu sein,
auch etwas zu bewirken, indem man anderen in ähnlicher Lage hilft. Das allein kann schon
Trost spenden. In dem Sinne: Haut in die Tasten. Selbst wenn ihr gesund seid. Gehirn-
Röntgen-Bilder:

http://flickr.com/photos/piper/22584430/

http://apt.rcpsych.org/cgi/content/full/11/5/338

CaptPiper (cc) Weiterführende Links: Scientific American: Blogging--It's good for you Karen
A. Baikie and Kay Wilhelm: Emotional and physical health benefits of expressive
writing(2005)

Artikel: http://www.gulli.com/news/neuroforschung-bloggen-ist-gut-2008-06-14/