Picking up creative writing as a hobby is what ultimately brought me on my healing journey. Over and over again I had to ask myself why my fictional characters do what they do. That is the way to create a believable story and characters people care about. Inevitably I did the same thing for myself at the same time. Why had I ended up in certain situations? Why didn’t I have a nicer boyfriend? Why did I feel the way I felt? That is really what got the ball rolling, and it hasn’t stopped since. I got rid of so many toxic people in my life and TYRANTS certainly fear this POET.
Some research investigated the mental health benefits of attending creative writing groups. The exchange in the group helps to regulate emotions. Interaction and sharing makes us feel good but even more so it suppresses negative feelings (1). Also, people with a chronic alcohol-use disorder have reported that attending a weekly writing group gave them a greater zest for life (2).
Undoubtedly attending any artistic group is good for your mental health. I have practiced creative writing for about two and a half years now. Mostly on my own. And I really have the sense that processing memories and new concepts through writing helps to solidify them in my brain. So, I dug deeper.
The brain science about writing
The writing process can be broken down into the brainstorming or plotting stage and the actual writing stage. Research has shown that during these different stages the pattens of brain waves change. While plotting which requires planning skills the frontal cortex is particularly active. It is corresponding greatly with the temporal lope where all kinds of sensory input is processed (figure 1). During the writing stage it is the other way around and the brain waves go from the temporal lope to the frontal cortex. Experiences are reprocessed from the temporal lope to be integrated into the writing via the frontal cortex (3).
I can imagine that that is where the healing power of creative writing comes from for me. Reprocessing sensory experiences where I have been touched where I didn’t want to and humiliated in front of others. It gives me the opportunity to put those experiences in to context as an adult. When as a child I wrongly assumed that the abuse was somehow my fault, like most children would. Now I can resolve that shame and make the perpetrators responsible.
The exchange between the left side of the frontal cortex and the right temporal lope was particularly strong (3). Interestingly, the right temporal lope is very much involved in making moral-value decisions and selfless behavior (4). I have been raised to always put others first. It seems to me that working my temporal lope during writing is a good way to reassess my moral values. And on my healing journey I have defiantly learned to take care better for myself.
(1) Choir singing and creative writing enhance emotion regulation in adults with chronic mental health conditions (2017) G. A. Dingle, E. Williams, J. Jetten, J. Welch
(2) Is training in creative writing a feasible treatment adjunct for clients suffering from chronic alcohol-use disorder? (2017) R. Hellum, S. Jensen, A. Nielsen
(3) Characterization of the Stages of Creative Writing With Mobile EEG Using Generalized Partial Directed Coherence (2020) J. G. Cruz-Garza, A. S. Ravindran, A. E. Kopteva, C. Rivera Garza, J. L. Contreras-Vidal
(4) A causal role for right temporo-parietal junction in signaling moral conflict (2018) I. Obeso, M. Moisa, C. C. Ruff, J.-C. Dreher
