trauma – Therapeutic Writing links

The benefits of writing about trauma

https://psychosynthesistrust.org.uk/the-benefits-of-writing-about-trauma/

The Efficacy of Journal Writing in Assisting Survivors of Sexual Trauma towards Post- Traumatic Growth

https://digitalcommons.lesley.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1069&context=expressive_theses

Writing poetry in Rwanda: a means for better listening, understanding, processing, and responding

This article reports on the early stages of a multi-year project using writing to facilitate healing among university-aged survivors of the 1994 genocide against the Tutsi in Rwanda. Working with genocide survivors carries with it expected and unexpected personal and professional complexities. Drawing on early versions of her own published and unpublished poems, the author demonstrates by way of example the role that writing poetry and the use of poetic inquiry played in addressing those complexities. The article includes an overview of the project that took place in Rwanda and describes the challenges inherent in working with survivors, then lays out the role that poetry and poetic inquiry can play as a means of engaging with this sort of difficult research. Through the inclusion of the poems themselves, the author explores the ways poetry affords opportunities for listening, understanding, processing, and responding to others. The article concludes with an explication of the broader implications of this work.

Create through me, oh god this hurts: Creative writing, spirituality, and insanity

Writing for protection: Reflective practice as a counsellor

Expressive and reflective writing has been one way of recording personal changes and losses. It has also been key in surviving the sometimes traumatic work involved in working with clients in psychotherapeutic relationships. This article explores some of the underlying research into writing for personal and professional development with illustrations from both personal and professional life.

http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/0889367042000197376

Writing and the development of the self- heuristic inquiry: A unique way of exploring the power of the written word

This article presents a heuristic research project designed to explore the role of personal writing in the development of the self. True to the heuristic process as outlined by Moustakas, the author analyzed over 30 years of personal poetry and journal writing through her mother’s mental illness and brother’s traumatic brain injury and epilepsy. Phase two of the project included nine participants (co-researchers) who were lifetime writers. Results indicated themes related to the (i) interpersonal and personal nature of writing, (ii) the spiritually transcendent nature of writing, (iii) the fact that writing facilitates perspective taking, (iv) the importance of challenge in personal growth, (v) the dynamic nature of writing, and (vi) the power of writing to influence personal identity. The paper presents the process, stories of the author and three participants, synthesized results, the power of the heuristic process, and potential application to the creative arts.

Poetry writing as a healing method in coping with a special needs child: A narrative perspective

http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/08893675.2011.573290

The focus of this article is on the role poetry writing plays in helping those bereaved or depressed to cope with their emotions. Through a therapeutic process of applying her thoughts to writing poetry, the author, mother of a special needs child, expresses herself and the trauma of her experience. The writer utilizes free verse to allow thoughts to freely form on the page instead of forcing them into a tightly constructed form that might hinder the therapeutic writing process.

Writing poetry: Recovery and growth following trauma

Integrating narrative/poetic content with the professional literature relating to trauma, the author explored how writing poetry contributed to her recovery and growth following the murder of her sister. It was concluded that writing poetry helped to reduce internal conflict and restore psychological balance. Metaphors and symbols enabled the exploration of the author’s response to trauma, which in turn led to recovery and growth.

http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/08893675.2011.573285

The Effects of Expressive Writing on Adjustment to HIV

Inna D. Rivkin; Julie Gustafson; Ilene Weingarten; Dorothy Chin

DISCLOSURES

AIDS and Behavior. 2006;10(1):13-26.

Previous research suggests that writing about stressful experiences results in better health and psychological well-being. In the present study, a multi-ethnic sample of 79 HIV-positive women and men participated in a structured interview, and wrote about either their deepest thoughts and feelings about living with HIV (expressive writing) or their activities in the last 24 hr (control). Sixty-two participants returned for the 2-month follow-up and 50 returned for the 6-month follow-up interview. Oral fluid samples of beta2-microglobulin were taken at the baseline and follow-up assessments to examine the immunological effects of writing. No effects of writing condition were found, but expressive writing participants who included increasing insight/causation and social words in their writing had better immune function and reported more positive changes at follow-up. Results suggest that cognitive processing and changes in social interactions may be critical to the benefits of writing.

https://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/536484

Using Story to Process the Emotional Experience of Complex Trauma

https://writingthroughtrauma.org/2016/05/04/using-story-to-process-the-emotional-experience-of-complex-trauma/