Change of Perspective

Musings on Writing, Reading, and Life Narratives

Fiction writers and literary critics speak of point of view. Social scientists are more likely to discuss perspective. But both of these terms refer to essentially the same construct: the consciousness behind the perception and narration of experience. Each individual’s point of view is unique, and point of view shapes the stories people tell to themselves and to others about themselves and their relationships with their environment. The same event narrated from two different perspectives will produce two different stories.

A change of perspective can expand our perception and reframe our thinking about our experiences. We can all benefit from an occasional change of perspective.

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Thursday, June 5, 2008

Writing as Therapy

QA: Laurie Edwards - 6/1/2008 - Library Journal:

Laurie Edwards is a 27-year-old writer and college writing instructor who lives with multiple chronic illnesses. She blogs at A Chronic Dose and has written a book, Life Disrupted, that will be published later this month.

In this short interview with Library Journal Laurie answers the following question:

What are your thoughts about 'writing as therapy'?

I think that writing is an extremely valuable and expressive tool; the value in writing about illness or medical illness is that you can contribute to a larger community. Whatever you write, someone else can see and hopefully learn from and vice versa.

Growing up as a sick kid, I couldn't go out and play that much, so in that sense writing was the thing I turned to, to give me an identity. Now that I am an adult and a writer taking on the patient experience, writing validates a lot of things.

Labels: writing, writing and health, writing as therapy

1 Comments:

EllenT said...: I am glad that you picked up on this interview--I thought it was a good discovery for me as well and also blogged about it a few days ago on my blog, at http://writingpracticeprescription.com/

We have been putting on workshops to help folks acquire and maintain a writing practice to improve their health and wellbeing with good results. Writing for wellness seems to be like so many things: Practice is the operative word.; June 6, 2008 8:58 AM