I have long been using writing as a kind of "problem solving tool" or catharsis, aside from the fact that I simply enjoy the process of exploring concepts and ideas through the written word.
Writing — or keeping a journal — is often used as part of the therapeutic process. However, we don't really need to be in therapy in order for writing to be a useful tool that can teach us a considerable number of things about ourselves that we might not get in touch with otherwise.
Some might be given to think that writing as catharsis is fall back of depressed lonely introverts who don't have anybody else to talk to, but the truth is that putting our thoughts into written words can serve many different purposes. And those have little to do with introversion vs. extraversion.
One of the things that often helps me is that actually seeing what I'm thinking — as written words on a page or a screen — helps me look at my thought process from somewhere other than inside my head, and that perspective frequently helps me understand that what I'm thinking actually doesn't make a lot of sense!
Another way I regularly use writing as therapy it's when I have too many thoughts randomly swirling around in my head.
That, unfortunately, happens quite a lot... my ADHD really ramps up, and it's difficult to silence my "monkey mind."
Sometimes we just have too many things to think about all at once. If I sit down and actually write out some of the things I'm thinking about, it somehow seems to ”record” them in such a way that I feel content to let go of those idea inside my head, and thereby I basically free up a little bit of space and bandwidth for other thoughts.
Does that make it sound like I think of my brain as a computer? Yes, it does… and yes, I do!
Neuroscientists increasingly agree that we can only keep so many ideas and concepts going simultaneously in our active working memory. I find that when that brain space gets overloaded the best thing I can do is start writing down some of the things that are causing the overload. And whether it's actually true or I'm just convincing myself that it's true the process does seem to work!
But what can we actually learn about ourselves?
The thing that typically sets writing apart from things like talking to a friend or even traditional talk therapy is the fact that it helps us honestly express ourselves, but this is made easier bu the fact that there is no actual audience present.
No matter how much we may think to the contrary, when we're talking to a friend — even somebody we feel is definitely trustworthy — we tend to censor ourselves, even if just a little tiny bit.
When we talk to a therapist, we tend to limit our thoughts to whatever we perceive to be on task in the moment, and most professional therapists are actually paid to keep us somewhat on task... therefore purely random thoughts that come up in the middle of being on task tend to be swept under the rug.
When we're actually writing about the underlying source of a problem and there is no audience — and we have the additional knowledge that when we get to the end of whatever we're writing we can either delete it or tear up the paper and throw it away — that last bit of censorship tends to drop away and we can get to the bottom of what is really true.
Although I have been in therapy several times in my 60-odd years — and it has definitely been beneficial in helping me through difficult times — perhaps my most intimate insights have come when I was just by myself and writing about them.
And yes, I deleted/threw away those particular texts. But that's not the point. The point is that the thoughts that were troubling me had the opportunity to freely bubble to the surface, get looked at, and then could be filed away as “looked at.”
Socrates allegedly said:
”The life unexamined is not worth living”
Along the way, some people have argued that I simply ”think too much.” Whereas I have always taken their words seriously, part of taking those words seriously has been examining whether those people were the pinnacle of mental health and authentic living... and they very seldom were. Simply pretending that something that's really bothering us and influencing our lives doesn’t exist does not make those things go away or magically disappear into thin air.
But you can always write them down and mark them off as "dealt with."*
Thanks for stopping by, and have a great Sunday!
How about YOU? Do you use writing as "therapy?" Does it help? Comments, feedback and other interaction is invited and welcomed! Because — after all — SOCIAL content is about interacting, right? Leave a comment — share your experiences — be part of the conversation!
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Created at 20220129 23:25 PST
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