Geoffrey W. Sutton PhD, Psychology and Culture

  Can the practice of gratitude actually improve mental health? Many studies extol the benefits of expressing gratitude. What’s different about this study by Joel Wong and his colleagues are the participants. All of them were psychotherapy patients. The research question: Would gratitude writing add value to psychotherapy?   The patients All 293 volunteers were young adults having an average age of 22 and the youngest were age 18. Most were women (65%). And most identified as “White/European.” They were seeking psychotherapy services at a university. The plan The researchers randomly assigned the patients to one of three groups. 1. Gratitude Letter writing and Psychotherapy . In three gratitude sessions, the participants wrote letters of thanks to people—most wrote to friends, mothers, and fathers. They had the option to send their letters or not—23% sent a letter. 2. Expressive Writing and Psychotherapy . In their sessions, the expressive writing group wrote...