Monday, 17 July 2023

The healing power of poetry

As both a poet and psychologist, I'm fascinated by the healing power of poetry.
 
Reading and writing poetry can make all the difference, particularly in the context of depression, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and anxiety. 

Don't take my word for it. There are several psychological research studies that show clear evidence for the healing power of the written and spoken word. 

In 2021 a study conducted by Delamerced, Panicker, Monteiro and Chung used poetry as an intervention in the care of hospitalised children. The study showed that the poetry was therapeutic, and eased the children's anxiety and stress.  

Research in 2013 studied poetry that was used as therapy for abused and traumatised adolescents. Conducted by Grace Brillantes-Evangelista, the study revealed that poetry was significantly effective in alleviating the symptoms of depression. Reading or listening to poetry helped the adolescents to address and manage their symptoms. 

Finally, there have been several studies that have highlighted the positive effects of poetry in the care of adults who have been counsellors of domestic violence victims and their consequent post traumatic stress. A 2008 study by Boone and Castillo showed that people who are exposed to traumatic experiences and develop PTSD can read poetry to reduce their symptoms and destress their minds.

Poetry really is good for your mental health and well-being!

Steve Wheeler

Image from Pickpic using a Creative Commons licence

References

Boone and Castillo (2008) The use of poetry therapy with domestic violence counselors experiencing secondary post traumatic stress disorder symptoms, Journal of Poetry Therapy, 21 (1) 3-14.

Brillantes-Evalngelista (2013) An evaluation of visual arts and poetry as therapeutic interventions with abused adolescents, The Arts in Psychotherapy, 40 (1), 71-84.

Delamerced et al (2021) Effects of poetry intervention on emotional wellbeing in hospitalized pediatric patients, Hospital Pediatrics, 11 (3), 263-269.



8 comments:

  1. Oh Yes! I agree wholeheartedly. Poetry had helped me my pathetic emotional abused marriage. I struggled for forty years and being able to ink my thoughts every time l am threatened, helped disperse some of those mounting despair. My dark elegy poetry targeted at th abuser is the only way l can counter attack him with my words. I'm glad l have poetry as an outlet or l would have been long dead.

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  2. While grieving the death of my father (30 years ago now!) I wrote a long (100 lines) and not very good poem dealing with the feelings of loss, and turning to a Christian message towards the end - crucifixion and resurrection combined. For some reason I chose not to write it in the first person. I think it was good therapy, though rather pretentious and poor poetry!

    During the time, I also found that music that expressed grief and despair was also good therapy, as well as poetry, and I listened many times to the tragic finale of Tchaikovsky's "Pathétique" symphony during that time.

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  3. Imelda Zapata Garcia17 July 2023 at 17:43

    I have always used poetry as a healing tool. I begin to write as a girl in the late 1960s, as a way of channeling my outrage with my personality imposed sheltered existence. I didn't know how to express the fact that I never had friends or dates. I didn't go to parties or school lol dances It was just a difficult time for me.

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    1. Thank you for sharing your personal story with us.🙏 Universal Peace & Love 🪷

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  4. I’m guessing no great differential with my singular experience during Covid that most other peoples, but through spend almost 18months in total isolation having a relationship end as well and losing two people during it, my mind has very much been gently caressed by poetry, both the read and the writing there of, I would gladly recommend poetry as a healing cathartic experience for anyone. Great blog.

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    1. Thank you, Matt, for sharing your personal story with us.🙏 Universal Peace & Love 🪷

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  5. I know that reading my Bible brings me this kind of peace that is inherent in the poetic expression of passages like the beatitudes or even in the prose of the passion. There is something soothing in articulating feelings you weren’t sure you could ever find words for. I feel that way about my faith… and it seems to correlate with the freedom I love in writing poetry and reading the poems of others.

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    1. That reminds me of a time, towards the end of my second year at University. One day, I was revising for the exams and looking at a double page full of algebra in my lecture notes and realising with horror that I didn't understand any of it.

      In panic, I opened my bible at random for comfort (I don't often do the "random opening" thing), and it fell open at Psalm 143. Like, wow! It summed up _exactly_ how I was feeling at the time, especially verse 4 "So my spirit grows faint within me; my heart within me is dismayed". That word "dismayed" really hit the nail on the head! I re-read the Psalm every day, almost as a prayer, and sure enough, I got through the exams just fine.

      The other Psalm of bleak despair is Psalm 88, which unlike Psalm 143, doesn't even offer any real hope, but seems to be from someone in the depths of depression. The last line "darkness is my closest friend" strongly reminds me of Simon and Garfunkel's "The sound of silence", the first line being "Hello darkness my old friend". Sometimes, poetry of utter despair, or indeed music of utter despair can be healing, because it gives you the sense that you are not alone - that someone else has stood where you stand.

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