The Benefits of Expressive Writing on Autobiographical Memory Specificity: A Randomized Controlled Trial

This study provided a preliminary investigation of an expressive writing intervention, which has been found to reduce rumination and avoidance, in reducing overgeneral memory among 207 non-depressed college students. Participants were randomized to one of three writing conditions: traditional expressive writing, specific expressive writing, or control writing. Study results showed that compared to participants in the control writing condition, participants in the traditional and specific expressive writing conditions demonstrated significantly greater autobiographical memory specificity at the 6-month follow-up. Results revealed that the effect of the traditional expressive writing intervention on increased autobiographical memory specificity was partially mediated by a reduction in avoidance, but not rumination.