Connect with people who understand what you are going through, seek advice and surround yourself with support. We're free, anonymous, and professionally moderated 24/7.

47,612Members
1,358,869Posts
1,400,000Visitors

Writing As A Form Of Therapy

SilenusSenior Contributor12 Apr 2016, 3:14 pm AEST

Writing As A Form Of Therapy

Hi all,

I have found throughout the course of my life that writing has been a constant companion to me. It has provided me with a way to vent my frustrations, to grapple with the eternal verities of life that confound and delight me, to explore ideas and concepts, and to try to put into words the often chaotic moods and thoughts that result from having a mind that's a little bit odd...

I have written lots of poems, especially in the last 3 or 4 years, dealing with depression and bipolar. They help me to process and understand some of the things that are happening in this twisted little noodle of mine. As such, writing has become one of my main forms of therapy.

One of the best things that I find about writing is that it can act as a kind of mood diary. I can read things that I had previously written, and it will quite often map out where I was at during the time of writing. The words I spread across the page act as signposts of my progress, too. As my self knowledge increases and my life journey progresses, I find that it affects how I write and what I write...

Often, we do not see the thousands of tiny little changes to our selves that our life experiences cause over the years. It can be very helpful to re-read old writings, in order to see how far we have come, what we have improved, where we have fallen back into old harmful habits, and the things that we have learned.

The language that we use in our writings and in our thoughts and in our speech is very important. It can reveal a lot about our selves, our states of mind, and our moods...

That language, it can become a self-fulfilling prophecy. I believe that we attract certain kinds of people around us, and create (or at least influence) life situations based on our choice of language. It helps define who we are as a person.

Negative thinking, self-deprecation, self-hatred, these sorts of dangerous life traps are often revealed in our choice of words. So too are the positive things. It all starts with a glass. How we describe the glass and the quantity and quality of its contents, that's where language comes into it, and it can shape our very lives and the lives of those around us.

Writing... it is my solace and my main tool of self-analysis. It is my favourite form of therapy...

2932 replies

531 - 540 of 2,932

1...53 54 55...294

In response to: Writing As A Form Of Therapy

Unknown userMember27 June 2016, 9:25 am AEST

Re: Writing As A Form Of Therapy

Love this image -faith-and-hope, gonna print it to give to this neighbour who just lost her little baby to cot death. Life can be so sad sometimes. Hi @BlueBay, big hug.

In response to: Writing As A Form Of Therapy

BlueBaySenior Contributor27 June 2016, 12:29 pm AEST

Re: Writing As A Form Of Therapy

Love it with tears @faithandhope.
Thank you. Xxxooo

In response to: Writing As A Form Of Therapy

BlueBaySenior Contributor27 June 2016, 12:42 pm AEST

Re: Writing As A Form Of Therapy

Having lunch at work and tears are flowing. Tears and more tears. I'm so pathetic aren't I.
😥😥😥

In response to: Writing As A Form Of Therapy

Faith-and-HopeSenior Contributor27 June 2016, 12:59 pm AEST

Re: Writing As A Form Of Therapy

Not pathetic at all @BlueBay ..... just your spirit sorting itself out from under all the strife you have encountered in your life, and healing itself in baby steps. I am sure I would be crying as much as you are if I had been walking your path ....... be gentle with yourself ...... baby steps ...... with tears sometimes ........

Big hugs ❤

In response to: Writing As A Form Of Therapy

Unknown userMember27 June 2016, 1:39 pm AEST

Re: Writing As A Form Of Therapy

@BlueBay, don't put yourself down (or beat yourself up), you have every reason to be teary, especially after yesterday. // Name 5 blue things in the room, then 5 things closest to your body, 5 things you can hear, & breathe deep. Hang in there... 🐠
💜🌷💜🌷

In response to: Re: Writing As A Form Of Therapy

BlueBaySenior Contributor27 June 2016, 5:54 pm AEST

Re: Writing As A Form Of Therapy

Thank you @Faith-and-Hope and @Former-Member for your kind replies and for thinking of me 🙂 xxx

In response to: Re: Writing As A Form Of Therapy

MazaritaSenior Contributor29 June 2016, 10:08 am AEST

Re: Writing As A Form Of Therapy

Waiting for support worker to arrive. We can go through the paperwork we need to do today but I'm not going to our activity afterwards, though she doesn't know that yet. Physically down with a cold and kidney pain, but that's not enough to explain how I am. Just drained and simply not up to leaving the flat. My only trip out for the past five days was to the letterbox. At least I showered yesterday. But last night fell into bed in all my clothes. Still wearing them today. Weirdly, my mood feels quite even. Do the medications I take simply mask what I can actually feel of my emotions? I've been wondering this for quite some time. On the surface of things, I mostly feel neither too high nor too low. But my behaviour swings wildly, week to week, from 18 hour binges of video editing to states of exhaustion. Driven over and over from a state of high productivity to a state of collapse. Sometimes the stark contrast exists from hour to hour. I work like a fury for a while. Take a chill break in a chair and start falling asleep. An ongoing predicament that seems relatively untouched by therapy. I'm told to do various things to improve my situation and tell myself to do them too. But actually doing them is near impossible and mostly I fail and fail again. I'm better than I was a year ago but the progress is at the pace of a snail. C'est ma vie.

In response to: Writing As A Form Of Therapy

Faith-and-HopeSenior Contributor29 June 2016, 1:48 pm AEST

Re: Writing As A Form Of Therapy

Hi @Mazarita

While I am no expert on this, being a "creative" myself with large-scale projects, your responses come across as completely natural to me ....... perhaps you are underestimating the energy drain from creativity at the level you are operating with ?

Also, many "creatives" are active into the wee hours of the morning ...... don't know why ..... maybe that is the zone for creative brain space, an once you are in a stride with a project, or struggling to achieve the righ resolution, it can be hard to put it down until it is either finished, or you have arrived at an appropriate exit-point to put it down until the next session with it.

It also seems to follow that a lot of "creatives" have mi issues ..... to do with the sensitivity of the soul ? Fine tuning aspects ? Who knows ........

Just my observations. I hope it's helpful. These things are a spectrum as far as I can see, and perhaps it is up to the individual to decide what they can accept as normal for them, and what they need support and / or medication for, according to how it affects their ability to function ?

I hope I can say that without offending anyone ....

💗💕🌷

In response to: Re: Writing As A Form Of Therapy

BlueBaySenior Contributor29 June 2016, 3:26 pm AEST

Re: Writing As A Form Of Therapy

Hi @Former-Member @Faith-and-Hope

Trying to soothe myself last night with this migraine, I decided to close my eyes and think of the blue butterfly i saw while away. I then tried to think of myself in the water at the pool, just floating.

It did make me relax a little.

Think i may need to do this again later on to see if it will help with my migraine.

In response to: Writing As A Form Of Therapy

Faith-and-HopeSenior Contributor29 June 2016, 3:46 pm AEST

Re: Writing As A Form Of Therapy

Hi @BlueBay

That's so great about the blue butterfly and the pool water ! It does take a bit of practice I think, but it should help to get that blood pressure back down ....... ✅

I have picked up your posts this morning. My Dad is staying with me from the country cos he had knee surgery this morning - all went well ..... ✅ but the Wifi here is a bit dodgy.

So great the mess about your MIL's bond is sorted out, or will be anyway, and that stress has been dealt with ....... ✅

Yeah, sometimes when our families get used to us dealing with everything they get their noses out of joint when they are asked to deal with the mundane small stuff that is part of our every day, and it's a real imposition for them. Good for you @BlueBay, making space for yourself and your needs, and recognising what they are ....... the next step might be to not get quite so upset when they don't understand and get a bit cranky about it ....... you will have to be very patient with them. Try to just tell yourself that they will gradually 'get it'. Just roll your eyes to yourself and take a deep breath rather than letting your blood boil ....... and count to 100. They will carry on a little bit for a while, but they will start to acclimatise to caring about your needs too ........

Do you know, if you firmly but politely say wagtail you need and what you intend to do, and remain as calm and polite as you can, there is actually very little anyone else can do to stop you. You will start to feel the personal power of that if you practice it a bit.

Hugs 💗🌷

531 - 540 of 2,932

1...53 54 55...294