Writing
Is Good Medicine
By
Lisa Lorden
Editor’s Note: Lisa
Lorden, a
CFIDS and fibromyalgia patient from California, is a well-known writer.
This article originally appeared at the Chronic Fatigue Syndrome and
Fibromyalgia site of About.com, where Lisa was the guide for several
years.
"I will
write myself into well-being." - Nancy Mair
Recent research shows that the
simple act of writing down thoughts and feelings can help people with
chronic illness improve their health. The April 14, 1999 issue of the
Journal of the American Medical Association reported that patients with
asthma or rheumatoid arthritis who wrote about stressful experiences in
their lives actually experienced reduced symptoms. Researchers asked 83
patients with either asthma or arthritis to write about the most
stressful experience in their lives for 20 minutes on three consecutive
days. A control group of 43 patients wrote about a neutral topic. All
the study participants continued with their regular medical treatment.
The groups were evaluated at two weeks, two months, and four months.
According to the study, 47% of the
patients who wrote about their feelings showed significant clinical
improvement, while only 24% of the comparison group improved. Most
notably, the arthritis patients who wrote about a stressful event had an
average of 28% improvement in their symptoms, while the comparison group
showed no change.
Researchers are still unclear why
this writing exercise produces positive physical results, but this
study—the first of its kind—adds important data to the growing body
of literature documenting positive health effects in healthy
individuals. Previous studies of healthy subjects who perform similar
writing exercises showed positive changes in various health measures,
including blood pressure, immune function, and a greater sense of
well-being.
It remains to be seen how long the
positive impact will last for the study participants and if those with
other chronic conditions can achieve the same results. But it is
certainly impressive that a task that took a total of only sixty minutes
produced such dramatic results.
So what does this new evidence mean
to you? The stress and isolation experienced by sufferers of Chronic
Fatigue Syndrome and Fibromyalgia can be extreme and is exacerbated by
the fact that these illnesses are so poorly understood that we may often
find ourselves having to explain and justify our limitations. Writing
about our feelings can help relieve some of this burden and allow us to
cope more effectively with our circumstances. Henriette Klauser, author
of Put Your Heart On Paper, explains that getting your thoughts
down on paper often frees you from being consumed by them. She quotes
the ancient proverb, "Every crisis has a gift for you in its
hands," and she suggests that writing about a crisis in your own
life may help you to unwrap the gift beneath.
What's more, writing can nurture the
spirit and enhance the quality of our daily lives in spite of illness
and disability. By nurturing our creativity, we can feel and appreciate
our aliveness, regardless of the limitations of our bodies. Throughout
her book, Simple Abundance: A Daybook of Comfort and Joy, author
Sarah Ban Breathnach advocates writing as a means of exploration and
discovery. In addition to her suggestion of keeping a "gratitude
journal" to record five things each day that you are grateful for,
she explains the importance of using writing as a tool to clear the mind
and calm a restless spirit. She calls this ritual the "daily
dialogue" because, she says, "you are really conversing with
someone much wiser and saner as you write: your authentic self."
While we can learn a great deal from others, often the most essential
wisdom comes from within. When you put pen to paper with an open mind
and heart, you may find you have shared what you didn't even know you
had to say.
Getting Started
So you're not a professional writer?
No matter. In fact, perfectionistic goals tend to be an obstacle to the
free expression that could be most helpful to you. Don't worry about
correct spelling or grammar, and it isn't necessary to analyze what
you've written. Trust your own intuition. Follow your stream of
consciousness. It doesn't even matter what form of writing you
choose—be it a poem, a journal, a letter, or a random list of thoughts
on a piece of scrap paper. You may find that sharing what you write with
others can be a means to resolving problems and deepening relationships.
But it is the act of expressing yourself that is the most nurturing and
healing, whether or not another person ever reads your words.
Here are a few ideas of how you
might get started writing, inspired by Susan Dion's booklet Write
Now: Maintaining a Creative Spirit While Homebound and Ill:
