The May issue of Scientific American carried the article, Blogging--It's Good for You - The therapeutic value of blogging becomes a focus of study by Jessica Wapner, It starts with the sentence, “Self-medication may be the reason the blogosphere has taken off.” Now they do not mean that bloggers are self-medicating and that inspires their blogging, although that may also happen at times. The next sentence says, “Scientists (and writers) have long known about the therapeutic benefits of writing about personal experiences, thoughts and feelings.” They site research amongst cancer patients that supports this idea.
Nancy Morgan one of the researchers is quoted in the article, “Blogging undoubtedly affords similar benefits to expressive writing,” and she wants to incorporate writing programs into supportive care for cancer patients. The article concludes with the observation that some hospitals have started hosting patient-authored blogs on their Web sites as clinicians begin to recognize the therapeutic value. Makes sense to me. Here is another benefit of blogging that I had not considered. Thanks to John Maloney for pointing this article out.
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