Writing Therapy and Memoir Writing: how do they intersect?
Some of you may be familiar with the term writing therapy, and others may not. It has been discussed in the public sphere more widely now, which is excellent. I stumbled upon the power of writing therapy after going through a traumatic event. I will explain this more in my presentation. But let me say that it’s a powerful tool that can allow you to be free from emotions towards events in your life.
Writing therapy is used in conjunction with your normal counsellor/psychologist who can guide you through the process of unlocking deep emotions and experiencing freedom from these. Memoir writing brings out the kaleidoscope of events in our lives, some of these were painful and others triumphant and positive.
Writing therapy has been studied for more than 30 years by psychologists all around the world, but firstly by Dr Pennebaker in the US. He studied the effects of writing honestly every day about painful events and found the participants experienced significant physical, emotional and mental benefits.
On the Greenleaf Memoir Writing Weekend I’ll talk further about these forms of writing, techniques for accessing memory and how we can heal from our past as we write.
Come along, if you live in Australia, I look forward to meeting you there. 🙂
Suzanne Strong 