Finding meaning while enduring a distressing situation has been linked with a positive psychological state.
Realistic optimism can be helpful, but so is dealing directly with a negative effect.
In other words, the suppression of negative emotion can reduce a person s ability to experience any emotion, whether it be positive or negative. Research has demonstrated that expressive writing about emotionally traumatic experiences can have a surprisingly beneficial effect upon health in terms of symptom reduction, sense of well-being, and diminished need to see a doctor. Patients with either asthma or arthritis were asked to write for twenty minutes on three consecutive days about the most stressful experience that they had ever undergone. Half had reduced symptoms and objective evidence of reduction in disease severity when evaluated 4 months later. It is not clear if beneficial effects will endure beyond 4 months and if these results may be extended to other diseases.