The Effects of Expressive Writing and Compassionate Letter Writing on Emotional Distress Intolerance

Launched by UNIVERSITY OF WATERLOO · Mar 16, 2022

Keywords

ClinConnect Summary

The study consisted of two online surveys. During the first survey, participants answered a set of questionnaires. Then, they were prompted to think of an upsetting situation and the associated unpleasant emotions, and they were then randomly assigned to a brief self-compassionate writing, expressive writing, or neutral writing task. They then answered a series of questionnaires immediately after completing the writing task. During the second survey, one week later, participants answered a brief set of questionnaires.

Gender

ALL

Eligibility criteria

• Inclusion Criteria for University of Waterloo sample:
• • Undergraduate students with a SONA account who are high in emotional distress intolerance (i.e. a lower-than-average score on the Distress Tolerance Scale; mean based on SONA student sample)
• Inclusion Criteria for Prolific sample:
• • Adults with a Prolific account who are high in emotional distress intolerance (i.e. a lower-than-average score on the Distress Tolerance Scale; mean based on Prolific sample)
• • First language English speakers
• Exclusion Criteria:
• • None