VANDENBERGHE, Luc. To report emotions transforms the reported emotions?: Questioning Pennebaker’s paradigm as to its implications for the prevention of post-traumatic stress. Rev. bras. ter. comport. cogn. []. 2004, 6, 1, pp.39-48. ISSN 1517-5545.

Although people often feel relieved after having shared emotions related to a trauma, there are no clear data showing that trauma-related emotions really are transformed by such act of sharing. Empirical research concerning the effects of verbally sharing emotions, led to contra-intuitive results that are difficult to interpret. This is the case both in experimental social psychology as in clinical research on the prevention of post-traumatic stress disorder. A critical appraisal of these results points out a few vacuums that deserve more attention from research. Questions about the relation between experiential avoidance and sharing of emotions and principally about what a person learns when reporting his or her emotions should be examined more carefully

: Emotions; Verbal behavior; Social sharing.

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