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There is a power in expressing our issues in poetic form.

Anyone can write a poem that expands consciousness in some way.

Poetry writing mirrors the heroic journey: home, struggle, and return with new insight.

A Roman physician, Soranus in the first century A.D., was known to prescribe drama—composed of poetry—for healing. He recommended attending tragedies for his manic patients and comedies for his depressed patients.

For many centuries the connection between poetry and medicine remained in people’s consciousness. Pennsylvania Hospital, founded by Benjamin Franklin in 1751, used bibliotherapy, reading and writing, as useful treatments for mental patients. Dr. Benjamin Rush, “Father of American Psychiatry,” believed in the effectiveness of music and literature. In all these instances, the evocative power of poetry and the access poetry grants to emotions and catharsis were appreciated as paths to healing. We can see how poetry opens us to parts of ourselves that may not be found otherwise. The resolution of problems and the healing of our emotional wounds can happen as we bring poetry to specific stresses that face all of us.

Writing poetry can also be a pathway of........

© Psychology Today