The usefulness of Writing Therapy as a form of self-help for anger, anxiety or depression, relationship problems, etc...

I think writing therapy is very potent, and serves a useful function. Here is a quotation which I sometimes display on my homepage, at http://www.abc-counselling.com: Writing therapy: Writing about your problems, in a diary or journal, can help you to process them and resolve them: “Diarists reported better moods and fewer moments of distress than non-diarists. Those, in the same study, who kept a journal following trauma or bereavement also reported fewer flashbacks, nightmares and unexpected difficult memories. Writing can itself be an act of emotional processing so it can help in many situations of danger, extremity and loss of control. People who keep diaries are admitted to hospital less often and spend fewer days there than those who do not (keep a journal)…” Philippa Perry, How to Stay Sane (2012). (3b) ~~~ I have often helped email counselling clients to work through their undigested past traumas using writing therapy, upon which I comment with helpful feedback. Here are a couple of examples: Byrne, J.W. and Watkins, A. (2012) The anatomy of a failed marriage: How to complete an undigested adult (marital) relationship failure, using writing therapy. CENT Paper No.20. Hebden Bridge: The Institute for CENT. Brief extract: In this paper, I (Jim Byrne) have outlined a four stage process of writing therapyfor digesting a failed relationship from your past. The reason for digesting such a painful past would be to help to solve a psychological or psychosomatic/physical illness in the present moment. The implicit assumption is this: If you leave undigested emotionally traumatic experience, repressed into your non-conscious mind, then you will most likely begin to experience psychological and/or physical symptoms arising out of that incomplete trauma. Throughout this paper, I (JB) use my counselling relationship with a former client - Alan Watkins (not his real name) - to illustrate how to digest painful past experiences, in simple, manageable steps. And I, (Alan Watkins), have gladly participated in this ‘research process', to see if I can both heal myself and help to heal others, by making a record of this work public. I am happy for my writing therapy process to be published in this jointly written document. Available online: http://www.abc-counselling.com/id394.html. Byrne, J. and Watkins, A. (2012) Healing the so-called ‘father wound' - using supported writing therapy. CENT Paper No.21. Hebden Bridge: The Institute for CENT. Abstract: The authors share their correspondence about Alan Watkins' email counselling (or ‘supported writing therapy') process, which addressed a sense of intense shame about his apparent physical cowardice. The therapy consisted of four rounds of submitting an email and getting a response; and doing some ‘homework assignments' in the interval. In the process, the client (Alan) assessed his own emotional needs; worked on his sense of okay-ness and the okay-ness of his father; explored some definitions of courage; and assessed his own level of courage. Available online: http://www.abc-counselling.com/id395.html