"FLIP-OUT RULE"
As you delve deeper into important personal issues in these writing exercises, consider how you feel about each topic. In my creative writing class for people with mood disorders, I always tell writers that if you just can't -- or don't want to -- deal with a particular subject right now, simply skip it and write about something else. James Pennebaker, Professor of Psychology at the University of Texas - Austin, and a leader in this field, calls this the "Flip-Out Rule." If something might make you "flip-out," do something else.
About Me
- Elizabeth Maynard Schaefer, Ph.D.
- My book, WRITING THROUGH THE DARKNESS: EASING YOUR DEPRESSION WITH PAPER AND PEN, was published by Celestial Arts in June 2008. I've been a science journalist, textbook editor and author, poet, memoirist, creative writing instructor and -- sometimes -- a bipolar depressed person, since earning my Ph.D. in biology at Stanford University in 1991. For the past ten years, I've combined my interests in writing and mental health by teaching creative writing to other people with mood disorders in a class meeting at Stanford's Psychiatry Department. I speak on mental health topics, both personal and professional, to a wide variety of groups.
No comments:
Post a Comment