Are you coping with a difficult experience, or with lingering feelings in the aftermath of such an experience? It’s important to seek professional help if you believe you need it. You may be struggling with depression, which can be effectively treated through therapy and other such methods.
However, it’s also important to keep in mind that there are steps you can take on your own to make processing difficult feelings easier. For example, some people consider writing to be a very cathartic experience.
You might discover you’re one of them. Writing a book about a challenge in your life can be helpful for the following key reasons:
There is Science Behind the Idea
People claim that many types of activities are cathartic. However, their claims are not always necessarily rooted in any genuine truth.
The notion that writing can be cathartic is different. There is literally decades’ worth of research indicating that the act of writing about a traumatic experience or painful feelings can yield measurable improvements in a person’s mental health. Additionally, research has shown that writing can yield improved immune health. This makes senses, as mental health and immune health have been found to be related.
Again, this isn’t to suggest that writing is a replacement for genuine mental health treatment when someone needs it. However, it does suggest that writing can at the very least supplement treatment.
Writing Lets You Vent
The feelings you’re experiencing may need to be released in some capacity. Unfortunately, you might feel as though there’s no one in your life to whom you can vent in the manner you wish. Even if you have family and friends, you might simply feel the way in which you want to vent would be taken as inappropriate.
This is another way writing can help you cope. It gives you the opportunity to express your feelings instead of letting them build up inside you.
Writing Gives You Perspective
When you are caught up in your own looping thoughts, it can be difficult to fully grasp why you feel a certain way about a certain situation. This can prevent you from knowing what you might be able to do to address that situation.
Many consider this to be among the top benefits of cathartic writing. When you put your thoughts down on paper, you can escape the thinking patterns that hold you back and start to consider other perspectives. This may result in insights that help you start making real progress in life.
Writing Gives You the Opportunity to Share Your Story
Not everyone who writes a book about a painful experience needs to share their book. In fact, many should not. Sometimes, it’s better to keep your story to yourself if you have valid reason to fear others might object to it in some way that will make your life more difficult.
However, there are instances when writing a book gives you an opportunity to be seen and heard in a way that may be beneficial to you. Luckily, we live in a time when you don’t need to find someone to publish a book for you. You can contact a printing company and self-publish a book on your own.
The main point to remember is that writing has been shown to be cathartic for several reasons. Once more, it may not be the only form of therapy you should investigate, but it can be a helpful one in many ways.