Writing is considered as an effective way of expressing one’s emotions. It can help in realizing one’s real feelings and makes a person able to understand the real experiences. When a person writes it helps to analyze the situation with a different approach and also helps in finding a better solution to their problems.
Principle
The basic principle of writing therapy is to allow people to express their negative emotions and undesirable experiences by way of writing. Most of the negative feelings and emotions are suppressed in real life and remain inside the mind of the person. This slowly starts affecting the person in various ways and increases the overall stress. The emotional stress then converts into physical troubles and leads to complaints like pain, discomfort, muscle aches and sleeplessness.
Method
Writing therapy is mostly performed one to one with a therapist, who is a psychotherapist and is mostly also trained in this specialty. The therapy is performed in sessions, depending on what each case may require. Mostly, the initial sessions begin with introductory writing about oneself and one’s own feelings. Based on what the person writes, the therapist makes an evaluation of the person’s hidden emotions and prepares accordingly for the following sessions.
These sessions are taken in a set of two to three days or sometimes even longer. The number of sessions required and the gap between two sessions varies and is best decided by the therapist.
Types of writing
Different types of writing are practiced. Some of them area,
- Letter writing, which aims at dealing with interpersonal conflicts and feelings, where the person writes to another person to share the hidden emotions.
- Confession writing, where a person writes about any negative deeds or experiences.
- Diary writing is when a person regularly writes about the daily activities and emotions.
- Creative writing, where a person writes original piece of writing in the form of story or poetry, which is mostly based on personal experiences and emotions.
Benefits
Writing therapy can help to bring out emotions that even the person has not realized sometimes. It helps to reduce stress and improve sleep. It helps to boost immunity and improves general health. This therapy can be helpful in conditions like high blood pressure, headache, obesity, gastrointestinal disturbances and psychological problems like anxiety and depression.
While this therapy is only used to provide relief from negative emotions, it should not be considered as a substitute for medical treatment.
