Editor’s word: This text isn’t meant for use rather than medical care. Please seek the advice of your medical supplier earlier than starting any therapy.
I’ve all the time been a proponent of talk therapy. Although it appeared out of the norm once I began my weekly appointments within the early 2010s, I knew instantly: it was a privilege to discover my emotions brazenly and actually. When you consider it, remedy is nothing in need of a miracle. For an hour or so, you may mirror on and work by any problem in your life. With out judgment, you might have the target ideas of an expert at your disposal. Unbelievable, proper? Sadly, that psychological well being miracle comes at a value—and relying in your insurance coverage, it may make entry troublesome or not possible. Fortunately, as Pinterest predicted in its 2023 trends report, “alternate options to speak remedy are on the rise.” Throughout each Gen Z and Millennials, a flip to writing remedy is making waves.
As we shift towards a extra open and empathetic dialogue surrounding psychological well being, many really feel empowered to hunt out instruments and choices that finest help their well-being. Creativity—a present to our psychological and emotional wellness—permits us to discover the expansive potentialities inside us and ignites the vitality that fuels our lives aside from the each day work grind. When you’re in search of new methods to know your self higher and join together with your ideas a bit deeper, writing remedy would possibly simply be your new go-to.
Featured picture by Riley Reed.
What’s writing remedy?
Additionally known as journal therapy, writing remedy is the train of writing for therapeutic profit. In fact, whereas this would possibly merely seem like jotting ideas down in a journal, there’s extra to the follow. Therapeutic writing, by prompts or workouts, permits the author to open up a dialogue with their issues, analyze ideas, and work by traumatic experiences or traumatic occasions. Whereas journaling can oftentimes be free-form, this therapeutic sort of writing is directed with particular objectives.
To be clear, whereas writing remedy can be utilized as a substitute for speak remedy, it will also be used to help the work you do with a therapist. The usage of writing as an intentional technique of expression can convey higher readability to your emotional experiences.
The Advantages of Writing Remedy
As avid journal keepers, we’ve written at size in regards to the numerous advantages of journaling. For many people, journaling is a each day behavior that helps us really feel extra centered, much less anxious, and boosts our creativity. And whereas that’s all effectively and good, as a result of therapeutic expressive writing is finished with totally different intentions, it is sensible to count on totally different advantages.
Writing remedy permits us to go deeper and deliberately discover particular occasions or traumas we’ve skilled prior to now. In an article for Positive Psychology, Courtney Ackerman, MA, cited a examine by which individuals journaled about traumatic experiences for quarter-hour, 4 days in a row. After finishing the train, these individuals skilled higher well being outcomes for as much as 4 months than the management group.
Along with successfully with the ability to course of traumatic occasions, writing remedy has been used as a treatment for:
- Melancholy
- Nervousness
- Eating disorders
- Obsessive-compulsive dysfunction
- PTSD (Submit-traumatic stress)
- Substance abuse
How to Use Writing Therapy as a Form of Self-Care
I began my journey with writing therapy in conjunction with my therapist. However, if you don’t have access to talk therapy or choose not to use this form of treatment, it’s easy to get started on your own. The Center for Journal Therapy is a superb useful resource that equips you with steering and prompts and may even join you with an authorized journal remedy teacher.
Some tricks to get you began:
- Make the most of prompts. Hunt down journaling prompts that resonate and deal with present challenges and ideas you’re working by.
- Discover a devoted pocket book. When you already journal, be sure you use a separate pocket book out of your each day one. This ensures you retain the practices separate and makes it simple to refer again to your writing remedy journal.
- Time your self. I discover that if I expertise author’s block, the best technique to get began is to easily… begin. By setting a timer for a particular period of time, the ideas are in a position to circulate extra freely.
- Proceed with out judgment. As I famous about speak remedy, it is a no-judgment zone. Write your ideas with out questioning them. Silence that internal critic—they haven’t any function in your therapeutic journey.
- Expertise feelings as they arrive up. It’s a part of the method, in any case.
Writing Therapy Prompts
Ready to begin? The following writing therapy prompts will help you tap into your emotions, engage with your inner dialogue, and step away from your journal feeling a little lighter, freer, and more in tune with your emotional landscape.
Letter Writing. What wisdom would you like to share with your younger self? Is there something you wish to tell an older version of yourself? Would connecting with someone you’ve lost help you feel seen in what you’re going through? Pick someone to write a letter to—whether that’s someone in your life or a part of yourself—and use this as a framework to process your situation.
Image Prompts. Sometimes, visuals can spark an insight that’s lying latent within you. Select from a few personal photographs—of friends, family, sentimental places—and ask yourself: What do these photos make me feel? What would I like to tell the people in the images? Is there something I’d like to return to or feel that I’ve lost from these photographs?
Make lists. Basic, but transformative. Pick a number (I often choose 25) and list out responses to the following: Things That Make Happy, Things That Make Me Anxious, Reasons I’m Excited to Wake Up in the Morning, Things I Want to Do With My Life, Things I’m Excited to Create. The possibilities are endless! By the time you’ve reached whatever number you’ve chosen, I can guarantee you’ll experience a greater sense of clarity about your life, day, or even the moment in front of you.
