Sep

8

Expressive Writing Therapy

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A form of expressive therapy is the writing therapy. This bases its practice on the idea that gradually writing his or her feelings, a patient can show improvement in dealing with emotional trauma, by simply processing the words he or she wrote and becoming aware of its meanings. This therapy can be applied both to a single individual, as well as to groups, be it through a therapist that is physically present in front of the patient or group of patients, or through the internet, by emails or other methods.

In the writing therapy field, the therapy is usually put into practice by a professional therapist or a counselor who act in various institutions like clinics, hospitals or universities. In the latter, the writing therapy is used with students in an attempt to improve their self development and self awareness.

The online method for putting this therapy into practice is used when the patient does not want to be personally known, at least not yet and this allows him to keep his identity hidden and get rid of any anxiety that would prevent him or her from disclosing private thoughts and feelings.

Like many other therapies, this one is also able to be applied in different cases of illnesses like abuse, desertion or bereavement. Some therapeutic sessions are similar to classes and the patient is asked to write on a specific subject chosen by the therapist.  Some of these subjects can be writing letters without actually sending them, addressed either to live or dead individuals and getting imagined replies from them or from body parts or things from their proximity.

In this direction and for these purposes, the internet was of an outstanding help, by providing accessibility to those who seek this kind of therapy. This has been also reflected by the rapidly increasing number of online patients. All they have to do is find the sites that allow such sessions and just enter a private chat room with a therapist and every bit of the dialogue takes place in real time. The patients can receive in the same manner “homework”; sheets with exercises or audio-video recordings of the therapist can be sent via email.

The need for alternatives to the drug based therapies, as well as the goal of achieving best results in the shortest period possible, have made a lot of investments from the governmental agencies and insurance companies be made in cognitive therapy (implicitly the writing therapy), rather than psychoanalysis which is a longer, slower process.

Maybe the oldest a simplest form of self-therapy is the keeping of a journal or diary, which helps the owner to better deal with the reoccurring stress and frustration caused by all type of events and also to express in written his or her own feelings and thoughts. The idea of a person writing about his thoughts and feelings and then reading them written in his or her own words can actually help a lot in dissipating the tension and makes one more aware of his or her problems.

Category: Expressive Therapy

About the Author ()

I’ve hurt myself while trying to help myself more than you can imagine, that’s why I want to scientifically analyze every popular self-help technique and ‘method’ there is.