A Postdeployment Expressive Writing Intervention for Military Couples: A Randomized Controlled Trial

A sample of 102 couples recruited from Fort Hood, Texas, participated in a study examining the impact of expressive writing (writing thoughts and feelings about Soldiers' transition from deployment to being reunited with family at home) on marital satisfaction, rates of yelling, and physical health symptoms. Participants were randomly assigned to write about this emotionally-laden topic or to a neutral comparison topic (physical health), and were tracked at two time periods (1- and 6-months later). In the conditions in which Soldiers did expressive writing, the couple’s marital satisfaction improved over the course of the first month.