The Effect of Expressive Writing about Thoughts and Feelings of Childbirth Experiences on Posttraumatic Stress Disorder and Postpartum Depression: A Systematic Review

Given the importance of postpartum mental health, this systematic review study was conducted with the aim to investigate the effects of writing thoughts and feelings on postpartum mental health.

In this systematic review study, Persian and English databases were searched. The keywords were based on Medical subject heading (MeSH) and included "Postpartum Depression", "writing", "Postpartum period" and "Posttraumatic stress disorder", and "Postpartum health", that a combination of keywords searches was performed using Bolin’s such as AND, OR, and NOT without time limit until September 2020. The articles were qualitatively assessed for inclusion in the study using the latest edition of the CONSORT-2017 checklist.

A total of 275 articles were found as a result of the initial search in databases, of which, 110 were excluded for being repetitive articles, and 142 for the lack of inclusion and exclusion criteria, and after review of full texts of 23 articles, six were included in the study. Findings research showed expressive writing interventions effective in reduction of depression, stress, and symptoms of posttraumatic stress disorder.

Expressive writing is a good choice for women that reduces the symptoms of posttraumatic stress, and its effectiveness for depression has been significant. Therefore, it is suggested that in the future, more clinical trial studies should examine the effectiveness of longer, more frequent, and more targeted written interventions.