Autobiographical Writing, a Healing Art
The therapeutic nature of writing about personal experience
Over the last year, I attended a course on advanced creative writing (10/10 would recommend). What soon became apparent was that everyone seemed to harness autobiographical traits in their writing. In fact, it was these traits that sprinkled originality on their pieces and created a sense of realism that grounded readers to their worlds.
It was interesting to see whether we instinctively lean towards autobiographical inspiration because we consciously know it is easier to write about, or whether some subconscious motive makes autobiographical writing all the more compelling.
As humans, throughout our lifetime, we are often greeted by trauma. Some interactions like pain are short and temporary, whilst some cases like guilt or regret take root within and never really leave us. An instinctive mechanism when dealing with problems that overwhelm us is discussion; the therapeutic nature of conversation.
Although discussion can take many forms, whether it be to friends, family or a professional, the core concept behind the process is the same: we have an urgency to express our worries in an effort to understand and accept them, with the hope that someday we can abandon them, or them us.
Karen Blixen had once said,
‘All sorrows can be borne if you put them into a story or tell a tale about them’
We are often caught in the stereotype of therapeutic articulation through speech, that we dismiss the cathartic power of autobiographical writing.
So, now that we have all picked up our pens and notepads, let us begin to see why.
Amending Guilt
Autobiographical elements embedded in writing can be a way of amending guilt. The power bestowed to an author allows her to architect character fates, destinies, and relationships. It is not surprising that given such control, writers often incorporate characters which resemble themselves or loved ones, in an effort to protect their storylines from the horrors of reality.
My mind immediately thinks of Tennessee Williams, a playwriter I sedulously studied for my English IB examinations.
Williams was notoriously known for his obsession with the theme of madness. His sister Rose suffered from undiagnosed anxiety and personality disorder and was committed to an institution where she was treated with a lobotomy. Ever since, Rose was left with no memories and mind, an outcome that haunted Williams with guilt for the rest of his life.
As a result, numerous characters, such as the infamous Blanche Dubois, are baptized in this theme of madness, channeled from Williams’ guilt.
If one has ever written a story, of any length, they know the profound connection the writer has to the characters; despite being fictitious, they are very much alive in his mind.
Characters that embody autobiographical traits walk along a fine line between reality and imagination. This ambiguity often allows writers to amend their regrets through fictitious situations.
Articulation
All problems in some way involve a struggle with language and to be healed we seem to need to find a way to express our stories.
When reviewing war diaries and autobiographical accounts of the Holocaust, Marilyn Chandler noticed that writers faced difficulty articulating their experiences. Throughout the journals, there was a frequent urgency where writers reiterated two thoughts:
- I must write. I must tell you about this.
- There is no way to tell it.
There was a clear dilemma between the need to tell the world what had happened to them and being incapable of finding the language to describe an experience that pushed them outside of the margins of the tolerable.
The more crises narratives I read the more convinced I became that healing is a primary motive in a large number of twentieth-century autobiographies.
Similar attributes are found in Mary Grace Concepcion’s journal article (Philipp Stud): “Writing the Self and Exigencies of Survival: Autobiography as Catharsis and Commemoration.” The article reviews autobiographies written by survivors of Ferdinand Marco’s martial law regime.
Despite incarceration, torture, and the control of writing materials that sought to obliterate the self and the written word, political prisoners undertook great risks to record their lives. Interviews with these writers reveal the challenges that, years later, survivors faced in writing their experiences, resulting in the belatedness of autobiographical writing. But in writing and publishing their narratives these activists and political prisoners-turned-writers felt emotional catharsis and empowerment. The passing of their generation has made these survivors realize the acute need to preserve memories of martial law.
Overwhelming troubles, ones that push people outside the margins of the tolerable, are often extremely difficult to express. However, as opposed to verbal communication, writing invites individuals to pour their emotions onto a blank page. It makes individuals less likely to wander off on tangents or give in to the temptation of neglecting thoughts or feelings; if anything, powerful emotions are the best muses for creative inspiration.
The most important aspect of writing is the ability to reflect, the ability to pick up associations that were not noticed initially, which can be refined until the writing conveys a rawness the writer did not believe could be expressed.
Autobiographical writing has three distinct stages of healing: introspection, retrospection, and transformation, which if followed properly can help individuals understand trauma enough to embrace it and express it fluidly.
Acceptance
Through a confessional tone, conveying worries into a story can siphon their burdening qualities, and provide therapeutic relief to the writer. This notion can be amplified in creative writing, as opposed to speech because writers often have a target audience in mind when writing a story.
In cases of autobiographical writing, the author could be targeting a specific individual or group, which can allow writers to provide themselves with the opportunity to receive much-needed closure they never received; unfinished business will remain unfinished until you confront it.
Jennifer Ire published a report advocating the use of autobiographical writing as a means of therapy.
Participants found the writing partially responsible for their experiences and helpful in bringing forward the realization that there was a problem that needed to be addressed. It also made issues tangible and facilitated their ability to work with them, process and let go of them. Participants advocated the use of autobiographical writing as a tool in therapy because it brought up issues being worked on in a different format, it revealed things about the writer, even to that person, it loosened up things attached to the story, it made one’s experiences real to oneself, and it was useful in reviewing one’s life and honoring one’s witnessing of one’s life.
Scientific studies as such are interesting because they help quantify hypotheses. Yes, it is simple enough to point out that autobiographical writing has been used in the past and is effective, but by being able to demonstrate that the majority of patients in a case study conform to the hypotheses, it helps solidify them.
Similarly, a personal favorite is the well known Sylvia Plath, whose intensely autobiographical poetry explores her own mental anguish, her troubled marriage, her unresolved conflicts with her parents, and her own vision of herself.
Plath’s autobiographical writing displays an astonishing power struggle between her sanity and mental illnesses. She had her own demons to face, but throughout her poetry, she began to embrace them to the extent where she would articulate her suicidal tendencies and even portrayed herself as gifted in the field. A particular example is Lady Lazarus,
Dying
Is an art, like everything else.
I do it exceptionally well.I do it so it feels like hell.
I do it so it feels real.
I guess you could say I’ve a call.
By comparing herself to Lazarus, Plath evokes her own experiences with suicide. Although it can be argued that she never really healed from her troubles, it is clear that her writing conveys the compelling nurture associated with autobiographical writing. To put it simply, it was a coping mechanism.
Conclusion
Perhaps creative writing is so cathartic because it gives the justice we think is deserved, or, quite simply, it boils down to the healing art of expression; depleting the draining nature of overwhelming emotions by forcing writers to acknowledge, confront and embrace them.
Regardless, autobiographical writing should be seen as a therapeutic process with a greater focus on its wellbeing effects. Historically and scientifically validated, it is a creative endeavor with many hidden benefits.
Get writing!
