The Pen and the Therapist

What does a therapist do as soon as you start speaking, that’s right! they write. They listen to your words pick out what they need and write it down and feed it back to you. The definition of a therapist is, “A person who treats mental conditions by verbal communication and interaction; a psychotherapist.”, according to the oxford dictionary. Communication is the key word here. If you look that word up in the dictionary you will find many definitions that all encompass the same idea, communication is the process of information or ideas, be it written, spoken or other.

Now before anyone grabs their torches and hunts me down for downplaying the mental health field, I certainly am not. Therapy as well as other physical appointments with mental health professionals are very useful and needed in a lot of cases. What I am writing about here is just that, writing! I think that people as a whole don’t realize the power of the pen. The old verbiage is, "The pen is mightier than the sword", The pen, keyboard, recorder, almost anything that you have at hand to get the words out, to get the thoughts out. We have all been into dark places in our mind, with or without a mental illness. We, as a people need to remove the stigma on mental health, we all need it in some form or another.

Once these thoughts and words start flowing out of your head it’s amazing what happens. You can almost feel the weight of the world lifting off of your shoulders. Just writing them down and not even rereading them helps. the way the words just flow once you start, sometimes you can lose track go down a worm hole and not even realize the deep thoughts you have. If you have the option and the power to reflect on those thoughts the sky is the limit. There have been many times that I have come across an old journal, of course I start skimming through my entries. The growth that I see it myself is so invigorating. Often times as well they help me realize that I am falling back into the same old habits that I swore I would change, gives me new motivation to get back on track and keep moving forward.

I am an on again off again writer, at some point I need to just stick it out and keep going. I seem to start typically when I'm feeling low. I have learned that writing, or journaling helps me stay sane. I am a slacker when it comes to sticking with something that helps. I sincerely hope that you are not. This is not to say that you have to stick with it or that my methods do not work for me. Writing regularly is a goal I have set for myself. Everyone has their own way of handling a situation, their own methods that work, or don’t. Every person has their own responsibility to finding what works for them.

Sometimes, one just needs a little bit of help. Just because a person is not diagnosed with a mental health illness does not mean that at times, they feel low or depressed, in general just need to do a mind dump. Some of us may try it and not like it, it may not be for you. I have learned through my experiences, and my opinion that writing is the easiest way to sort through the brain trash we all experience. Writing, journaling, blogging take no training and minimal effort, it is something almost anyone can enjoy. So, get out there, pick up a pen, some paper start slamming those keys. Clear your mind. Thank you for reading!