Written emotional disclosure and processing of trauma are associated with protected health status and immunity in people living with HIV/AIDS.

OBJECTIVE

This study compared written emotional disclosure and processing of trauma among a relatively rare group of people with AIDS with atypically favourable disease status with an HIV+ comparison group. The study also examined the mediational role of emotional/cognitive processing and natural killer (NK) cells.

DESIGN

This study utilized a cross-sectional group comparison design.

METHOD: Two HIV+ groups, the Healthy Survivors (N=37;>9-months with <50 CD4 cells/mm(3) and asymptomatic), and an HIV+ comparison groups (N=100) wrote essays describing their reactions to past traumas; these were scored for emotional disclosure/processing.

RESULTS

Healthy survivors had higher levels of emotional disclosure and emotional/cognitive processing than the comparison group. Emotional/cognitive processing mediated the relationship between emotional disclosure and group membership. NK cell number mediated the relationship between emotional/cognitive processing and 'healthy survival'.

CONCLUSIONS

The results suggest that higher levels of emotional disclosure and processing of trauma may confer health and immunological benefits to people living with HIV/AIDS.