journaling is good, bad for you

Journaling, yea:

From there, Illing found that the writing process helped her cope with being single, living alone, her anger at her ex-husband, dating after age 50, loving her kids and missing her dad.

"Journaling helps you discover who you are," said Illing, 61.

Illing offers one of several area venues for people who find that writing out the bits and pieces of the day can be helpful in releasing emotion, expressing creativity, stimulating the brain or even healing spiritually.

"Journaling is a good therapeutic tool for our clients who have stabilized themselves in their recovery and who want to work on other issues in their lives around relationships and personal growth," said Carl Flowers, director of Behavioral Health Resources recovery services program in Tumwater.

Or nay:

Keeping a diary is bad for your health, say UK psychologists. They found that regular diarists were more likely than non-diarists to suffer from headaches, sleeplessness, digestive problems and social awkwardness.

Their finding challenges assumptions that people find it easier to get over a traumatic event if they write about it.

“We expected diary keepers to have some benefit, or be the same, but they were the worst off,” says Elaine Duncan of the Glasgow Caledonian University. “In fact, you’re probably much better off if you don’t write anything at all,” she adds.

What about blogging?