Writing therapy activities
5 Simple Therapeutic Writing Exercises
We have all gone through stages of high anxiety and distress in our lives. No human being is exempt from problems, and there are times when we must carry heavy burdens. Therapeutic writing exercises are a great way to deal with these painful feelings, which are unpleasant and worthless once heard.
For centuries, pen and paper have proven to be more than just elements. Their work is not just about taking notes or writing: they are the vehicle that gives free rein to our emotions, which allows us to express ourselves without fear, and that shapes our feelings. Isn't reading the best (and healthiest) activity to escape? Thanks to it, we are transported to distant worlds and find ourselves. So, should not write fulfills a similar function?
In the 1960s, the American psychologist Ira Progoff first established the Intensive Journaling Method, which consisted, in effect, of writing a diary. Since then, numerous studies support the usefulness of this practice, which has become increasingly common. Let us think that therapeutic writing exercises fulfill an essential function. They are comfortable and can be done anywhere, and anyone, no matter what the problem, can do them. Let's get to know them a little better.
To begin with, we only need a pen and a sheet of paper. We should place ourselves in a place where we can feel relaxed and comfortable, if possible, away from the noise. If we wish, it is possible to add some soft music to harmonize the atmosphere.
Scented candles and air fresheners are also a good recommendation. We should try to be quiet, and if possible, alone.
1: The diary of positive things
Many people keep a diary since childhood. In it, they write curious anecdotes and exciting things that have happened to us (although that doesn't always mean happy news). In this case, the diary should only serve to write down everything positive that we see every day.
And no, it is not impossible.
Take it as a challenge: when you wake up every morning, you should look at all the right things around you. Write them down and read them at night before you go to sleep. You will be amazed to find out that life is not as gray as you think.
Take the pen and, for half an hour, write down everything that comes into your head. It doesn't matter if they are unconnected or meaningless phrases. You can draw, make lists of anything you can think of, or write down random names.
Crazy as it sounds, it will help you sort out your thoughts and find out what your innermost feelings are. It's an excellent way to get to know yourself a little better and delve into your psyche.
3: Unburden yourselfIf something's making you feel bad, write it down. Pretend it's a letter addressed to the reason for your discontent and let it out. Express everything you are thinking: your pain, your fears, and your anger. You will feel a great release, and you will feel much better when you are done.
You can then choose to burn the letter or give it to the person to whom it is addressed. Only you know if it's a good idea or not: it may take a load off your mind, but the opposite can also happen. Think about the consequences of coldly before you act.
4: Design your dreamsWrite down on a piece of paper what your goals are. There will probably be many, some impossible to visualize in your head. Think about them and ask yourself, is it impossible to achieve them? Is it not that I am afraid of failure? Is there a more realistic alternative?
Whatever you decide, only you can know how far you are willing to go. No one is going to judge you if you fail, and if you do, you must not care. Design the life you want, visualize it, and motivate yourself. Motivate yourself to keep fighting for what you want, because it is much better to try and fall than always to be left with doubt.
5: The bad day's letterThere will be days when you see everything black.
The slightest bit of nonsense will make you angry; you will argue with everyone and think you have got off on the wrong foot. For these unfortunate times, try to have a letter stored on your nightstand or in a safe place: the lousy day's message.
To do this, choose a day when you feel pleased, and write a letter to yourself. Tell your other self how proud you are of him, and all the good things he has. You may need that boost of positive energy when you have your famous "bad day," so keep it safe.
Therapeutic writing exercises are a great help, especially when we don't feel right or need an extra boost of confidence. They teach us to put our thoughts in order and to recycle our feelings; in short, they are great emotional support that many times people cannot or cannot give us.
Author bio:
Esther Crowder is an e-commerce consultant, freelance blogger, and free writer at wow essays company.
He writes articles in various online blogs on the subject and online magazines.
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7 Therapeutic Writing Exercises For Mental Health And Wellness
Writing can be therapeutic and cathartic. Therapeutic writing exercises can help you get to know yourself, overcome bad moments, and improve mental health.
Writing is an excellent therapeutic tool and guided writing exercises are the perfect way to bring to light what we carry inside, unburden ourselves, clarify our feelings or doubts, encourage us, know ourselves better, and even help us make wise decisions.
One way to deal with any overwhelming emotion is to find a healthy way to express yourself. Writing for therapeutic purposes can bring back memories and make you cry, but it can also improve your mental health.
The benefits of therapeutic journaling are well known and therapeutic journal writing can be a helpful tool in managing your mental health.
Journal writing is therapeutic because it can help you manage anxiety, reduce stress, and cope with depression.
In fact, journal writing therapy is one of the best self-care ideas to help control your symptoms and improve your mood by helping you prioritize your problems, fears, and concerns.
This article is not intended to replace professional consultation. If you think you may be suffering from depression, these exercises can in no way replace professional help.
These therapeutic writing exercises for adults are just tools for those who want to get to know themselves better and move forward in one or more areas of their lives.
If you need professional help, you can get free online counselling for women from a trained counsellor to help you deal with stress, overcome any problems, moments of crisis or growth, or changes in your life.
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This list of therapeutic writing exercises and writing activities can help you overcome bad moments, get to know yourself, make decisions, and achieve personal growth.
You’ll find therapeutic writing activities and therapeutic writing prompts to help you clarify your feelings and get things out in the open in a safe and effective way.
1. Freewriting exercises
Objective: The objective of freewriting exercises is to find solutions or new ideas to help you solve a problem or dilemma.
Freewriting is a therapeutic writing exercise that can help you find the solution to a dilemma you don’t know how to get out of.
How To Do It:
The freewriting technique was invented in the early twentieth century by the avant-garde writer Dorothea Brande and the idea is to write the first thing that comes to mind, without erasing, without crossing out, without stopping to think.
The purpose of freewriting is not to create a literary work but to let the ideas flow freely, without the restraint of our judgment, morals, shame, or logic. To use freewriting ideas therapeutically, you must have a problem or an issue in mind that you wish to solve.
You can sit down, with a paper and pen (it must always be handwritten) and write anything that crosses your mind without stopping for at least half an hour.
If your shopping list comes to mind, then write down the shopping list… you can gently return to the subject that worries you while leaving yourself the freedom to allow the association of ideas, so that logic does not interrupt the path to a possible solution.
You can also use freewriting exercises to find new writing ideas if you’re a professional writer, creative writer, or paper helper and need ideas for essays and academic texts.
2. Therapeutic letter writing ideas to resolve conflicts
Objective: The objective of therapeutic letter writing is to clarify and discover your emotions and release them to try to resolve a conflict.
Whether it is a person you live daily with, such as your partner or a co-worker, or someone you no longer see, or someone who is not even alive, you may have an unresolved conflict with them that does not let you move forward.
Unlike the previous exercise, the objective of letter-writing ideas is not to find solutions but to bring to light what you feel and to discover what lies beneath.
For example, you may find that underneath anger with the other person, there is a hidden fear. You may even end up forgiving them at the end of this therapeutic writing exercise.
Note that when you practice writing letters for therapeutic purposes, this work is for you and you alone. This letter is not intended to be read to anyone or sent to them, but simply to serve as an exercise. You can keep it, tear it up, burn it, or do whatever you like with it.
How To Do It:
Again, set aside at least half an hour just for yourself. This therapeutic letter writing exercise should preferably be done by hand. Start writing a letter about what you feel about that person. But, remember, it must be in this order:
Step #1: First, you tell them why you’re angry or upset.
Let out all your anger on the paper. If you have to use profanities or harsh words, do it. The more you let it out, the better. You should try to make the letter several sentences long at least, but it could be a whole sheet of paper so you can cover whatever you need.
Step #2: Do the same thing, but now tell the person who hurt you what it is that makes you sad or makes you feel bad about this situation. This is no longer about blaming or accusing them, but about looking inside you.
Step #3: Continue the same letter writing exercise, but now it is about revealing to them the fears you have. What fears did you feel in this situation that caused you to react the way you did?
Step #4: This part of the therapeutic letter writing exercise is dedicated to repentance. Even in the healthiest discussions or conflicts, you may feel that you’ve messed up or said something you shouldn’t have.
Or conversely, there may be something you could have said or done differently. Let it out onto the paper.
Step #5: The final paragraph of your letter writing exercise is devoted to love. In fact, some therapists call this exercise the love letter. Tell the other person what you appreciate about them, what makes you or has made you happy. Tell them what you are grateful for.
This therapeutic letter writing exercise can help you feel feelings you didn’t know you had, and it is a safe way to vent and express your thoughts and feelings about a conflict without hurting anyone else’s feelings. Again, letter writing therapy is only for you so you don’t have to send the letter to the person who hurt you.
3. Fictional story writing exercises
Objective: The objective of fictional story writing exercises is to re-live a situation from your past by observing it from a distance.
Fiction writers are probably familiar with creative writing exercises such as these and if you’ve been writing fiction for a long time, you’ve probably already done this therapeutic writing exercise more than once.
Fictional story writing exercises are about shedding new light on a situation from our past, usually, one that occurred in childhood or adolescence.
Please note that this does not refer to significant traumas that may need immediate psychological help – these should only be supervised by a professional.
How To Do It:
Have you already chosen some story writing ideas based on a situation from your childhood or adolescence? Good!
Now write a story where you narrate the situation, BUT from the third person point of view, where the main character is different from you. For example, you can change the gender, age, or some important feature of the character.
Even if much time has passed, writing everything from the objective point of view of another character will give you even more distance, and you will be able to see what really happened from other angles.
It may also help you better understand the reactions of other people involved, or understand yourself more – and perhaps forgive yourself or be proud of how you were or are now.
4. Write a letter to the child you once were
Objective: The objective of this letter writing exercise is to let off steam, feel your feelings, forgive yourself, understand yourself, and love yourself unconditionally.
This therapeutic letter writing exercise can be compelling and bring many things to light as we remember the child we once were.
You can achieve many healing objectives with this seemingly simple exercise, but it may not be easy for everyone to do it because of the emotions it can bring up.
How To Do It:
There are two variants of this therapeutic letter writing exercise.
#1: Write to the child you once were
Imagine the child you were, what you liked about that child, what made you sad, what you regret. Then write a letter to them and tell them everything you feel -the more detail you write, the better.
If there are names, dates, anecdotes, the more you will live, and the richer and more therapeutic this letter-writing exercise will be.
Express your unconditional affection, your forgiveness, and your pride for the child you once were in this therapeutic letter writing exercise.
#2: Write to your adult self from the child you once were
Now you can do just the opposite. Get back into the skin of that child, remember how you felt, what you wanted, what you feared, what dreams you had, and now write to your adult self. Try to let your child give you advice and remind you of what was important to you back then.
During these therapeutic letter writing exercises, remember that you are no longer that helpless child. You are now an adult and many of the things that trapped you or frightened you are no longer true and no longer have any power over you.
5. Write a list of things you appreciate
Objective: The objective of this positive psychology therapeutic writing exercise is to help you feel better and to relativize problems. This coaching exercise is very encouraging and can help you regain strength and purpose.
How To Do It:
Write a list of at least 30 things (or even 50) you appreciate in your life and are grateful for.
This is perfectly possible since you can be thankful for many things – from your parents giving birth to you, for a beautiful day, or your health, or electricity, or the existence of chocolate bars.
This therapeutic writing exercise helps you appreciate and focus on the good things and positive feelings you experience in your life so you can enjoy them more.
A variation of this is to add this to your daily routine writing and write down just three things you’re grateful for each night in a journal or diary. You can even use this as one of your diary writing ideas so it can become a part of your daily routine.
Daily writing exercises that focus on appreciation and gratitude can train your brain to focus on the positive and increase your happiness quotient.
6. Write a letter to read at your funeral
Objective: The objective of this therapeutic letter writing exercise is to let off steam, discover who you are, what you want, and what is valuable in life.
There’s so much that can emerge during this therapeutic writing exercise, making it one of the most powerful of all these writing exercises – although they’re all perfect and valuable.
How To Do It:
As in the previous therapeutic writing exercises, find a moment of silence and, preferably by hand, write the letter that – supposedly – would be read at your funeral when you are no longer around.
Like the previous ones, this letter writing exercise is supposed to be an exercise just for you, and then you can keep the letter or tear it up.
It’s time to get it all out, so speak clearly to the people you want to tell things to, both negative and positive, of course. Remember your sorrows and joys.
Wish good things to the people you love and give thanks for what you’ve enjoyed most in your life. Take advantage of this opportunity to tell the people who will be listening about all the things you did to be happy.
This therapeutic letter writing exercise can give you perspective and clarity in your goals and values.
It is an emotional exercise with many possibilities and can help you clarify what is most important to you in your life.
You can even do this letter writing exercise many times, at different points in your life, and save the letters to see how your perspective changes over the years.
7. Write about the life you want
Objective: The objective of this therapeutic writing exercise is to shape your mind to make it easier for you to allow abundance into your life and program your mind to achieve your goals.
This neuro-linguistic programming exercise appeals to the study of the brain that says that the words we use shape our reality.
If we constantly complain, we will only see the negative. If we repeat to ourselves, “how unlucky I am,” we will invariably transform that “prophecy” into reality.
NLP has many therapeutic writing exercises used by psychologists and life coaches to help us change our self-image and vision of ourselves and our lives.
How To Do It:
This therapeutic writing exercise is about describing the life you want in the future, in detail, and with all its successes – work, love, health, family, even the house you will live in, the achievements you will have achieved.
Note that this writing exercise should be done in the present tense as if you were already living it, so you can feel all the feelings and emotions you would feel as if you were living it.
The more detailed and concrete you can make your vision, the better. As part of the technique, you should repeat the writing of this ideal life many times, perhaps even make it your daily life essay, to program it into your mind.
Of course, this therapeutic writing exercise can do no wrong, and, at the very least, it can make you feel that those goals or dreams are more attainable than you think.
So, did you enjoy these therapeutic writing exercises for beginners? You can add these writing ideas and writing activities for adults to your daily writing routine or to your writing hobbies.
You can find more women’s mental health articles here.
About the author:
Priya Florence Shah is the Group Editor at SHEROES and author of Devi2Diva, an emotional self-care book for women.
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Psychological and pedagogical innovations in the education of future healthcare professionals
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8. Publications and research activities.
Members of the Association are obliged to provide in the media and social networks reliable and truthful information about art therapy, about themselves, their qualifications, education, services provided, the Association.
8.1. Members of the Association shall ensure that all advertisements and publications, whether in print, directories, advertising cards, newspapers, radio, television, electronic media such as the Internet, or any other media, are drafted in such a way as to accurately and professionally correctly convey the essence and distinctive features of art therapy as a special type of psychological, psychotherapeutic and psychosocial assistance, and allow interested parties - clients (patients) or their representatives to make an informed decision regarding applying for an art therapy service.
8.2. Members of the Association should, to the extent possible, correct false, misleading or inaccurate information posted by other professionals regarding art therapy and art therapy services.
8.3. Members of the Association can present themselves as specialists in the field of art therapy only if they have education, training and experience that meet the standards specified in the Regulatory Document for the regulation of professional psychotherapeutic and psychological activities in the field of art therapy (art psychotherapy) - Standard professional psychotherapeutic (psychological) assistance in the field of art therapy (art psychotherapy).
8.4. Members of the Association do not use the Internet and social networks to disseminate and publish information that discredits members of the Association and harms the Association, its members and other professional communities.
8.5. It is unacceptable to use social networks and the Internet to accuse other members of the Association and members of other professional communities of ethical violations.
All ethical disputes in the Association are resolved on a personal basis or, if necessary, based on the Ethics Committee of the Association (see clause 8.14.)
8.6. Members of the Association cannot make statements in the media, as well as during meetings, congresses, conferences, that discriminate against people on the basis of race, nationality, gender, ethnicity, religion, age, due to health restrictions and disability, sexual orientation and socio-economic status , citizenship, etc., as well as to take part in relevant and other movements.
8.7. It is unethical for members of the Association to conduct any political activity in social networks and the media, including the dissemination of political information.
8.8. When announcing or advertising professional services, members of the Association must provide reliable information about themselves and the services provided, for example: last name, first name, patronymic; place of work, position, academic title, degree; membership in the Association, in other professional organizations; workplace address, email address, website address, telephone number, office hours, a brief listing of the types of art therapy services offered, and other concise and relevant information.
8.9. Announcements, advertisements about the services provided or publications must not contain:
- false, deceptive, misleading, false or unfair statements;
- information that may be misleading due to use out of context and insufficient disclosure of significant facts;
- recommendations from clients, patients on the quality of services provided;
- statements that create false or unjustified expectations of favorable performance;
- statements alluding to unusual, unique or extraordinary abilities
- statements appealing to the fears, anxieties of the client, the patient or his emotions, about the possible consequences of refusing the offered services;
8.10. Members of the Association should not pay and give something valuable to representatives of the press, radio, television for the sake of obtaining the right to speak on professional topics in news stories. Advertising must be carried out in accordance with applicable law.
Advertising for the air is recorded in advance and agreed with the specialist. It is necessary to keep copies of advertisements and recordings of broadcasts.
8.11. Announcements and advertisements must provide clear information about the goals, objectives, and an accurate description of the service provided. This information must be available prior to service provision.
8.12. When developing and promoting art therapy techniques, books and other goods and services offered for commercial sale, Members of the Association must present advertisements and advertisements in a professional, scientifically acceptable, ethical and informative manner.
8.13. In case of detection of unreliability of the information provided, the members of the Association must take measures to eliminate this. If necessary, contact the Ethics Committee of the Association.
8.14. Members of the Association who maintain social networking sites must clearly distinguish between their personal and professional profiles, selecting information specific to these purposes and considering who can access each profile.
8.15. Members of the Association do not disclose or display confidential information through websites and social networks. In the case of the intended display of graphic or other creative products of the client (patient) with the possibility of displaying it in the media, as noted in clause 4.9., members of the Association should be guided by the therapeutic interests of the client (patient), agree with him the goal and objectives and the procedure for placing his work and receive written informed consent. They should also be aware of the possible consequences of posting graphic or other creative products of the client (patient) on websites and social networks for his mental and social well-being.
8.16. In order to develop art therapy and its scientific base, members of the Association are encouraged to participate in research work. When participating in research activities, they must follow the regulations and professional standards governing the conduct of research in which the subjects are human.
Their research and publications are a necessary expression of professionalism and ethical conduct. Art therapy studies are a necessary condition for improving the quality of work of a specialist for a client (patient).
8.17. When planning scientific work, the specialist conducting the research (hereinafter referred to as the researcher) is responsible for compliance with the Association Code. In the event that there is a conflict between scientific and human values, the researcher should seek advice from the Ethics Committee of the Association.
8.18. The researcher is responsible for compliance with the Code to his staff, assistants, students and subordinates.
8.19. The investigator must enter into an agreement with research participants prior to their participation, which explains the obligations and responsibilities of each. Each study participant signs an "informed consent". The researcher is obliged to fulfill the obligations assumed. The investigator must inform participants of all aspects of the study that may influence their willingness to participate and explain any other aspects of the study that the participant asks about.
If information has not been given in full prior to obtaining informed consent, steps must be taken to protect the well-being and dignity of research participants. Research with children or other participants with disabilities requires additional measures to ensure the safety of research participants.
8.20. The investigator must respect the individual's wish to refuse to participate or withdraw from the study at any time.
8.21. The investigator must protect the participant from physical and mental discomfort, harm, and danger that may result from research procedures. If there is a risk of such consequences, the investigator should inform the participant of this fact. Research procedures that could cause serious or lasting harm to a participant should not be used unless failure to use those procedures would expose the participant to greater harm, or if the research is of greater potential value and informed consent is obtained from each participant. The participant must be informed of how they can contact the investigator after the end of the study, about stress, potential harm, questions and problems arising in connection with the study.
