Saturday, August 30, 2008
Article read for term 3
Article taken from: http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?id=the-healthy-type
(commentary on prevoius post)

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.

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.”
Posted by worm at 11:35 PM 0 comments
Friday, August 29, 2008
Commentary on benefits of blogging
Article: http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?id=the-healthy-type

“One world, one dream”—a slogan recently breathed into fiery life by the China’s Olympic dragon. What if we reverse the famous slogan such that it reads “one dream, one world”? This is the precisely the essence of blogging, where each individual expresses his dreams and personal experiences online, and find validation and empathy in the reactions of the members of the cyber world. Blogs help to link up each individual’s experiences, and create a common space where the blogging community can read about shared experiences. Why then is such a form of communication so addictive to many people?

Other than being an English assignment, blogging also, and more importantly, can be an outlet for an individual to vent his frustration and difficulties, thus acting as a form of psychological therapy. Humans are social creatures who rely on certain behaviors like complaining as a placebo for getting satisfied whenever they find themselves burdened with troubles. Of course on might confide difficulties by speaking to others, however, the most private and troubling difficulties we face are often the hardest to reveal to others. Furthermore, speaking face-to-face about your troubles with a person you are close to is much more difficult than writing to strangers. Blogging is a combination of both types of communications as it allows bloggers to indirectly broach difficult subjects with loved ones and also gain support and encouragement from strangers in the cyber community. This ease of communicating difficult subjects is what endears blogging to many troubled people.

The article also explored the neurological causes and effects of blogging. Some scientists say that blogging is caused by neurological drives because many people do it compulsively. Such drives could be caused by neurological anomalies or by dopamine release. More importantly however, “expressive writing activates a cluster of neurological pathways” and can lead to beneficial physiological effects such as improved sleep quality. While the actual science behind expressive writing remains speculative, seeking solace in the blogospheres is rapidly establishing itself as an effective form of psychological therapy for cancer patients and other patients diagnosed with serious medical conditions. The effectiveness of blogging as a therapy is worthy of discussion.

In one particular case study, Pamela Hilger turned to blogging after she was diagnosed with lung cancer, sharing photographs and her experience with dozens of bloggers, who constantly supported and encouraged her throughout her painful ordeal. These readers sent emails to her, started an online fund to help pay her medical bills and even drove hundreds of miles to save a fellow blogger’s dog from the pound after he split with his wife. That was the extent of the camaraderie that bonded the members of that community together.

In spite of all the benefits of blogging about one’s troubles, I feel that one should be responsible and careful when blogging as blogging can result in harmful effects and serious ramifications. One might not always receive encouragement and support from the online community. In fact, internet confessions might draw acrimonious criticism and cruel comments from readers. For example, an alcoholic going by the name HeartSong received so many hostile and threatening emails from a reader that she had to request AOL (American Online) to prevent the man from contacting her again. Negative criticisms can be very damaging and detrimental to a person’s psyche, especially at a moment where he desperately needs psychological therapy. Thus blogging about confidential issues is always a risk.

Blogging to purge our trivial grouses is definitely beneficial to relieving stress but blogging about darker and more complex troubles requires one to excercise responsibility. Blogging also helps in building a more well-connected world as individuals are connecting to one another and witnessing everyone's expression, finding solace in having their troubles discussed and addressed by the cyber community. This is the meaning of “One dream, one world”, one’s personal experiences shared and resonating with similar people all over the world.