MEDIAOCRITY
Was Emily Gould Just Self Medicating?
As people still search for answers as to why former Gawker editor and current Jimmy Kimmel sympathizer, Emily Gould, wrote thousands of words about herself in a New York Times Magazine cover story, maybe there's a very simple explanation: it's therapeutic. Apparently there's new research that suggests blogging keeps people spirited and helps the sick recover faster, according to an article in Scientific American:
"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."
Neuroscientist Alice Flaherty of Harvard University is hoping to explore the "neurological underpinnings at play," and notes that it could have to do with the brain's limbic system, that is "boosting their desire to communicate." In an effort to help better understand the effects that blogging can have, she looks to other manias like: "hypergraphia (an uncontrollable urge to write) and writer’s block." |SCIAM|
by ANIMAL on May 28, 2008
