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Creative writing
- 1. RESEARCH POSTER PRESENTATIONDESIGN © 2015 www.PosterPresentations.com • Writing to express yourself • Also, known as expressive writing • Can be structured, not structured and written to be read by others or just for yourself • Stories, poems, metaphors, dialogue with yourself or others… • Used within therapy, independent of therapy and to replace therapy • Related to Narrative Therapy techniques developed by White and Epston • James Pennebaker has been credited with furthering expressive writing What is creative writing? • Clients and counsellors can both engage in creative writing • Counsellors, such as Nigel Gibbsons, use expressive writing as a method of reflecting and working through their professional and personal life situations • People can take part in creative writing, without therapy, and find it very therapeutic • Within therapy creative writing is often used within a Narrative therapy framework to help clients through mental illness, traumatic experiences, etc. Who is it for? • Clients with severe mental illness have shown to improve via creative writing (King et al., 2013) • A process of identity formation occurs when writing via storytelling • Narrative Therapy • Helps people with schizophrenia see alternate sides of their stories, not just relating to their illness • “Cognitive remediation (CR) refers to systematic training in basic cognitive processes, such as attention, concentration, memory, and response to stimuli, as well as some more complex processes, such as problem solving” (p. 446). • Writing allows one to process experiences and emotions that one may not be aware of and build connections with others when writing is shared How is writing beneficial? King et al. (2013) • Writing therapy 1. Ask clients to engage in free writing, whenever they want to without any restrictions 2. Aid clients in being reflexive with their writing pieces by editing and re-writing their work Wright (2009) • Dialogical journal writing • Used to replace therapy • Keeping a daily dairy as a coping mechanism for life’s challenges and stressors • “the use of journal writing to create a ‘compassionate image’ to counter-act anxiety” (p. 235). • Developing your own compassionate voice that asks how are you doing and questions with no judgmental what improvements can be made in hard situations How do you write? Contradictions and Cultural Considerations • Writing is an engaging action that many people can participate in various languages • When partaking in writing therapy with clients counsellors need to be aware of various cultural contexts their client’s stories take place in • Including Narrative Therapy values is helpful because it emphasizes context and systems References Gibbons, N. (2012). Writing for wellbeing and health: some personal reflections. Journal Of Holistic Healthcare, 9(2), 8-11. King, R., Neilsen, P., & White, E. (2013). Creative writing in recovery from severe mental illness. International Journal Of Mental Health Nursing, 22(5), 444-452. doi:10.1111/j.1447-0349.2012.00891.x Park, J., Ayduk, Ö., & Kross, E. (2016). Stepping back to move forward: Expressive writing promotes self- distancing. Emotion, 16(3), 349-364. doi:10.1037/emo0000121 Wright, J. (2009). Dialogical journal writing as 'self-therapy': 'I matter'. Counselling & Psychotherapy Research, 9(4), 234-240. doi:10.1080/14733140903008430 Harleen Kaur Virk https://encrypted- tbn3.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcRb26iiEdXZn45NnXPJhHRhtM4sxr8FwwWxdvB8xdey Oou_T340MQ https://transformativeart.files.wordpress.com/2013/03/story-to- tell1.jpg?w=212&h=300 https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/736x/cd/50/86/cd50864a944cc9f88402c049d35794bc.jpg • It is associated with improving the well-being of people in general as well via self-distancing (Park et al., 2016) • Self-distancing: reflecting on past experiences by distancing yourself from them via writing • Often occurs as one writes and relives their experience • Creates meaning