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You can take the boy out of the psych ward, but..........(finish cliche here)
I recommend blogging as a therapeutic aid to many of my friends-- diaries and journals have long been used in therapy, but I think blogging has a bit of an advantage.
When you use a "hard copy" journal or diary, you encounter a couple of problems inherent to the format. A journal is a finite thing, with a first and last page--empty pages, defying you to fill them. A person struggling with an underdeveloped ego will often feel inadequate to the task, and will become discouraged, avoiding the intimidating "empty book".
The second issue is privacy. Putting down honest thoughts and feelings is difficult. First, one has to confront and own the feelings--difficult when they are unpleasant to begin with, and next to impossible if you are afraid of being "found out". A hard copy journal is a point of vulnerability, particularly to those struggling with an abusive-- or otherwise disrespectful of boundaries-- significant other or family member.
Blogging is a much better theraputic tool. By nature, it is an on going process--there is no last page, no blank pages to intimidate the person who fears that they have nothing to say. The "pages" don't exist until the mighty blogger calls them into existance. The on going process of blogging is made up of many smaller, completed chunks. Every post is a success--a completed assignment to be proud of.
Also, blogging has a higher degree of privacy. One may choose a pseudonym, there is a password to access the blog, and the blog doesn't exist in real space. Additionally, one has the option of keeping the blog off the blogroles--if you want to blog for your eyes only, no problem. Also, one never has to worry about losing the blog, leaving it somewhere, or forgetting to take it to a therapy session.
So, as much as I love the printed word, and books in general, I still think blogging is a superior theraputic tool. Just imagine how freakin nutzoid I'd be without it.........
4 comments:
What a great post! You've given me a lot to think about. I hadn't thought of how a book, with its given number of empty pages conditions you into thinking you have to fill those pages, which can be simultaneously daunting and limiting.
I would only ad to that list of pluses of blogging that if you chose to make your blog open for the public to read that this also makes you feel like someone is listening to you, even if they don't say anything. So you don't feel like you're opening your heart out "in vain," so to speak. You're not talking to the wall, and there is the possibility that someone will read and understand and say something that can make a difference.
right on--that is a point I would have made, had it occured to me--thanks for filling in the blank!
You're a genius.
i was going to ask more about his madness. but okay- you're a genius.
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