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The therapeutic benefits of creative writing have long been recognised; indeed, writing therapy which uses the act of writing and processing the written word to ease pain and strengthen the immune system, has existed since the 1930s. The East Midlands novelist and poet D H Lawrence believed that one could get rid of one's maladies and master one's emotions through the medium of writing. The need to examine a feeling or thought and make sense of a situation is what drives many writers to tell a story. This can be presented as fiction or non-fiction, and the huge growth in publishing of autobiographies and 'misery memoirs' would suggest that many are taking up this option of therapy either independently or through writing courses.
That so many copies of such works are purchased, suggests that the benefits are reciprocal; the reader feels the connection to the writer and both have benefited.
The use of creative writing as a therapy presents the writer with a mechanism of coping with their stress. It helps them to uncover and ultimately manage repressed feelings and to develop a better understanding of their worries and their state of mind. The therapeutic benefits can be applied to many different cases - someone who is feeling a little 'down' can gain as much benefit as a depressive. Each case needs to be looked at individually and the methods and intended results carefully planned. For example, many people find that the act of creative writing, maybe producing a poem or short story, makes them feel better. On the other hand, someone who is battling to find themselves would need the direction of an expert in the field.
But this type of therapy is not just limited to the unhappy or sad ... under the right creative writing tutelage, writers who are worried about writing about sex or violence can confront and overcome their repressions; in the safe environment of a course, writers will feel free to use linguistic techniques that they would never have used before thus becoming more accomplished writers.
Nowadays, creative writing need not be constrained by the availability of publishing or fitting a format. The 'world wide web' provides the perfect medium for sharing any experience in pictures or in words. The need to do so felt by so many has led to the growth of blogs and social networking websites.
When E.M. Forster urged us to 'only connect', he could have had no idea how comprehensively we would embrace his entreaty. We now have the capability to enjoy the therapy of creative writing in doses of various sizes from tweets to literary tomes. The facility to share experiences with peers and strangers alike has reawakened the creative writer in so many of us; we may not have the ability or the wish to write that book but we are able to elevate the art of creative writing from the enforced labours of the classroom to its rightful place as something we do for pleasure.
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