Creativity and recovery
As William Sieghart writes in ‘The Poetry Pharmacy’, “Suffering is the access point to poetry for a lot of people: that’s when they open their ears, hearts and minds”. We want to celebrate the role that creativity can play in recovery by shining a light on the benefits of reading and writing poetry. Writing from personal experience can help others to feel less alone, as well as help to release and process difficult emotions.
Findings from a study published in 2023 showed that reading, writing and sharing poetry is good for mental health and can help people cope with loneliness or isolation and reduce feelings of anxiety and depression. Listening to poetry being read aloud has also been shown to help reduce intensity of pain and increase feelings of hope. Sharing poetry can help build empathy in healthcare professionals towards their patients by offering profound insight into the experiences of those who have had or continue to have ill health. In essence – poetry is good for all our health.