During addiction recovery, patients will look for various methods to express their emotions and struggles while working to reach sobriety. These methods can come in numerous ways – art is a popular therapy, from painting to sculpting, though hardly the only one. For some, the best method comes from putting pen to paper, using the written word to express themselves and their recovery journey as a method of therapy.
The value of creative writing as a therapeutic outlet is immense when done properly.
Writing has long been used as a way for people to express themselves in numerous ways. Poets have written odes to love for centuries. Teenagers have written down their deepest thoughts, insecurities and dreams in diaries and journals for nearly as long. And there are just about as many ways to express your feelings in the written word as there are feelings to write about.
One place you’re guaranteed to experience a lot of feelings is in addiction treatment and recovery. The patient is undergoing a great transition as they work to overcome addiction and reach a lasting recovery. Such an ordeal can produce all sorts of feelings, including anger, sadness, regret, hope and much more. And those feelings need to be expressed lest the patient repress them to an unhealthy degree.
The arts have always been a way to express feelings and relieve oneself of emotional burden. And creative writing has long been one of the paramount methods of artistic expression.
Creative writing allows the writer to put their thoughts out there, rather than bottling them up and letting them fester. Whether it’s poetry, fiction, memoir or just free writing, any form of writing can serve as a good therapeutic tool for the addict seeking to express their myriad feelings in treatment and recovery.
Creative writing has a long history in therapy programs, being used to give patients a healthy outlet for their feelings, and give therapists and others an insight into what the patient is feeling through their own words. Some patients may feel more comfortable expressing thoughts on paper that they struggle to express out loud, even to themselves. Writing as a tool for therapy can help bridge that gap.
At Good Landing Recovery, creative writing is an essential tool in therapy for those patients who can most benefit from the practice. While not every patient is going to be a natural fit for a writing component within their treatment, it can do wonders for those who do use it. It’s not particularly necessary that the writing be “good,” as far as that goes. It’s more important that the writing be heartfelt and honest in expressing the patient’s feelings and struggles.
With proper guidance and help, a creative writing component can be incredibly powerful and useful in helping a patient reach sobriety and resist relapse. As a therapeutic tool, it has great utility and power in many ways.