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  • Writer's pictureDawn Robinson-Walsh

Writing about trauma


When my brother and some close friends died, I stopped writing. Not purposefully, it just happened. I managed to write a eulogy for someone less close, but could not put words together for those closest to me. When my mother died, I stopped the painting I'd taken up as a hobby. It is almost as if their deaths closed off my creativity until I was able to deal with it again. I still cannot find the words to write about some of those losses, but I've figured when it needs to happen, it will.


There are many books about people's appalling childhoods and experiences. Inspirational memoirs are known as 'misery lit' in the world of publishing, and unhappiness sells by the bucketload. Sales are phenomenal. There is no let up. Thinking Dave Pelzer, Frank McCourt, and even Jung Chang (whose Wild Swans I love). Given the challenging subject matter, how do they write this stuff? That's a question I've recently been asked, so looked into it - research is my answer to everything.




Psychological trauma is obviously bad for your health and the natural response is to avoid thinking of painful events. However, psychologists believe if we don't tackle such issues, then we do not properly process them.


Psychologist James Pennebaker tells us how writing about your feelings can significantly improve your physical health, as evidenced through his social research. It is a form of writing which brings little pleasure to the author because it is so painful; however, longer term it is therapeutic, and not just for a few days but for months and years. The effects are the same whether anyone reads the material or not - the 'therapy' is in the writing (maybe that's why diaries are important). The benefit derives from creating a story or narrative that links together traumatic emotional memories, often traumas which have been kept secret even from one's nearest and closest. This 'getting it down' in an organised, regular, structured fashion, ideally writing a little each day, makes these traumatic events more coherent, enabling them to be laid to rest.




The answer seems to be to write daily but extremely honestly.


This article is worth a read, for it explains how Pennebaker and others since investigated writing in a different way.


Pennebaker draws a parallel with therapy. "People who talk about things over and over in the same ways aren't getting any better," he says. "There has to be growth or change in the way they view their experiences."

We've all encountered people who replay their narrative over and again. It never changes, and they never feel better. They get stuck like an old record, which grates, irritates and helps no-one, especially them. This is where writing and organising what has happened can really help.


Writing Practicalities


To write about traumatic life events effectively (for you - and later, possibly an audience) you need:


1. To write for you, not an audience, not for publication. If writing for you, then and only then will you write honestly. Don't share it with anyone until it is fully written.

2. If overwhelmed, take time out, a break - shut the material away and focus on other things, then return to it.

3. Recognise that you won't feel good as you are doing it, so make sure there are plenty of other positive things in your life to compensate.

4. Remember, that writing is your best friend. It is non-judgemental.

5. Keep it fast and loose, as artists say, 'stream of consciousness' style. Unless it comes easily to you, don't think about spelling and punctuation as you write this kind of material. That comes later if you decide to publish it.

6. Eventually, your writing may switch on a light for others. Alternatively, you may write it all down then delete or destroy it all. It is your property to do with as you wish.

7. What makes 'misery lit' so compelling is the honesty and the awfulness of it. We are social beings, so trying to understand the lives of others who have endured very different circumstances to us is part of the human condition. It helps others to understand the sometimes incomprehensible.


Eventually.


When and if it is shared.






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