Goodbye for Now, My Friends
I've enjoyed writing this Write Out of Depression blog for the last three years. It introduced me to many of you fascinating readers. It saw me through the writing and publishing of my book, Writing through the Darkness: Easing Your Depression with Paper and Pen, in June, 2008. And I hope it has provided some information, encouragement and intriguing writing ideas.
Now, however, it's time for me to move on to other things. I am working on a new book! I'll also continue to speak at conferences on mental illness and on writing, and to lead my writing group for people with mood disorders at Stanford.
Please go to my website www.WritingThroughTheDarkness.com to learn about me, my book, and my schedule. You can also email me at: EMSchaefer@aol.com. From the bottom of my heart, thank you for reading and for your comments and contributions. Goodbye for now.
--Beth
Showing posts with label blogging. Show all posts
Showing posts with label blogging. Show all posts
Thursday, October 08, 2009
Wednesday, April 02, 2008
TO READ: Blogging to Beat Depression?
Millions of us blog these days. Among other things, blogging offers an opportunity to create a diary that includes emotions, as well as events, to share with others. But is blogging, like some other forms of writing, able to help ease depression?
Australian researcher James Baker of the Swinburne University of Technology says yes -- but for a surprising reason.
Baker has found that, in fact, people who begin blogs tend to be "more distressed emotionally" than others. As he told an ABC Online interviewer last month, new bloggers show "high levels of stress, anxiety, depression. They are also more likely to vent emotionally and self blame a bit as far as coping."
However, when Baker surveyed about 130 people, 60 of whom then started a blog, he discovered that two months later the bloggers had changed. They were "a bit happier overall . . . a little bit less distressed," he reported, "but the big difference was that people who actually started a blog felt more socially integrated." This feeling of connection comes from the fact that bloggers are making personal material public, receiving comments, and developing a sense of an online community.
He suggests that, ironically, perhaps people's private postings can help them become more connected to the outside world and, along with that, less depressed.
Sounds a lot like the findings I report in Writing through the Darkness: sharing what you've written is often an important part of the healing process. So, whether you're currently journaling, writing poetry, or, hopefully, doing the exercises suggested in this blog, consider sharing them, either online or person-to-person.
Millions of us blog these days. Among other things, blogging offers an opportunity to create a diary that includes emotions, as well as events, to share with others. But is blogging, like some other forms of writing, able to help ease depression?
Australian researcher James Baker of the Swinburne University of Technology says yes -- but for a surprising reason.
Baker has found that, in fact, people who begin blogs tend to be "more distressed emotionally" than others. As he told an ABC Online interviewer last month, new bloggers show "high levels of stress, anxiety, depression. They are also more likely to vent emotionally and self blame a bit as far as coping."
However, when Baker surveyed about 130 people, 60 of whom then started a blog, he discovered that two months later the bloggers had changed. They were "a bit happier overall . . . a little bit less distressed," he reported, "but the big difference was that people who actually started a blog felt more socially integrated." This feeling of connection comes from the fact that bloggers are making personal material public, receiving comments, and developing a sense of an online community.
He suggests that, ironically, perhaps people's private postings can help them become more connected to the outside world and, along with that, less depressed.
Sounds a lot like the findings I report in Writing through the Darkness: sharing what you've written is often an important part of the healing process. So, whether you're currently journaling, writing poetry, or, hopefully, doing the exercises suggested in this blog, consider sharing them, either online or person-to-person.
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