Journaling as a Healing ArtVirginia MaripolskyRNC, BSN, MSW

Bangkok Hospital Medical Center

Presentation Objectives:

● Using writing as a tool for healing● Present four basic writing

exercises● Advise on the legal status of your

journal especially as it pertains to a health care professional

● List warming up techniques useful with clients

● Refer to internet resources

Journal, noun. 1. A daily record, as of occurrences, experiences, or observations. 2. A newspaper, especially a daily one. 3. A periodical or magazine. 4. A log or logbook.

Writing as a Healing Art

Poets and Writers Magazine, May 2001“Literary Life Writing”“The Rape Poems”“How Telling our Stories Transforms our Lives”“Poetry in Prisons”“Recovering Your Silenced Life”

Long before there were therapists there were poets.

● “Once crystallized into words, all-engulfing feelings become manageable, and once challenged into explicitness, the burden of the incommunicable becomes less heavy. The very act of creating is a self-sustaining experience, and in the poetic moment the self becomes both the ministering ‘therapist’ and the comforted ‘patient’.”

● Molly Harrower, PhD, The Therapy of Poetry

Summary of study outcomes

● Many students wept while writing● Some indicated these were tragedies

they had never disclosed● Many were troubled and dismayed by

their writing● Four months later…they reported their

spirits had improved significantly

Physiological effects of writing

● Brain wave activity congruence between the right and left brain

● Increased T-lymphocyte activity● Increased ability to fight infection● Lower heart rates● More relaxed physiological state

Journal of the American Medical Association - Joshua Smyth

● Symptoms of people with asthma and rheumatoid arthritis

● Greater reduction in their symptoms four months later

Silencing our stories● If telling our stories seems to

unleash our bodies’ healing potential

● Then silence can adversely affect our health

Disclaimer

Don’t use writing as a substitute for therapy or for getting medical care.

Rules of Journal Writing● 1. Date your entries as you go● 2. Don’t make any other rules

1. Timed Exercises

● Choose a set time to write● 5 – 7 minutes serves well● Set a timer or watch the clock● Stop writing when the time is up,

even in the middle of a sentence

2. Flow Writing

• Pick a tangible object from your surroundings and use it as the opening image in your entry

• Let your mind free associate from one thought to the next

3. Dialogue Writing● Open with a leading question• Take a breath, pause; write down the first response that comes

• Work in a rhythm of question/answer

4. Unsent letters● Although this is an addressed journal

entry, you do not need to take the recipient’s feelings into account

● Allow the letter to ramble and develop in your usual style

Unsent letter● Often the ritual of

actually writing on stationery and sealing into an addressed envelope provides closure

● Has been used to write to a loved one who has died

The Legal Status of your Journal ● Don’t tell

your journal anything you wouldn’t want the District Attorney to hear.

Legal issues

● It isn’t protected● You can’t claim your 5th

amendment rights● The diary is just another

piece of evidence

Legal issues● Emails have

been used as evidence

● Encrypt personal use of computers or use only a phrase you will know

Warming up● Date & time your

work● Sign your work● Ignore your inner

critic● Watch out for the

censor● Avoid judgments

Techniques to get started:

A tool for healing● Draw a picture

of a totally healthy you.– Describe it in

your own words.

Warming up techniques● How do you take time to

experience the pleasure of each of your 5 senses.

● Write about each.● Explore your instinct for making

things up

● Write a travel diary

Warming up techniques● Write about a childhood

recollection. ● Go with the first thought● Go for the details

Warming up techniques● Start doodling: continue for 2

- 3 minutes● Describe it or how you felt

doing it

Warming up techniques● A blessing a day● Review the day and write one

thing that you are willing to accept as a gift

● End with the words…..thank you– Amen– Namaste

Warming up techniques● Journaling as a garbage can:• Throw away your

frustrations, your fears, your doubts, your insecurities, your anger.

• Writing about them will lessen their power over you.

Warming up techniques

● Journal as a camera• Carry a notebook with you• Collect careful little ‘word

photos’• You will begin to see more than

you ever saw before

Warming up techniques

● Write a prayer

● Write a song

● Write a country and Western song

● Write in fragments

● Write a poem

● Write a haiku

● Write to yourself as a child

● Make a wish list

Keep a Dream Journal

● Write every dream you remember

● Write it when you wake up in the middle of the night

● Write when you are tired to catch your brain off guard

Internet Resources● Often, a webring of journals that post at least 20

entries a month. ● The Squirrel Lists, a variety of lists of journals of

Gen-Xers, left-handers, Canadians, humor-oriented, philosophy-oriented... a place to find a list of people offering specifically what you're looking for.

● Diaries and Journals on the Internet● Willa's List of Journals ● Open Pages, a webring of journals that is open to any

journal that meet a few simple qualifications.

JOURNALING● Acts as a healer● Lessens the power that our emotions have

over us● Research has shown that journaling

increases our bodies ability to fight infection and

● Promotes a more relaxed physiological state