Write Through Doors

Anyone who keeps a journal or scribbles thoughts on a scrap of paper knows that it feels good to write. On the page I am my own therapist, rabbi, and best friend. The heaviness of the words leaves my body, landing on the page, ready to be read again tomorrow or simply torched n a metal trashcan (which I’ve really done, when on a workshop with Blanche McCrary Boyd).

I’m sure that means writing is good for you. “Vhat could it hurt?” my yiddishe grandmom would say.

Now, The Journal of the American Medical Association is backing up my belief with some facts. I first heard about this in an article called Words that Heal in ODE Magazine.

Patients suffering from asthma or rheumatoid arthritis were asked to describe the most difficult moments of their lives or simply write down their plans for the day. Four months later, patients who spent just 20 minutes a day for three days in a row writing about their problems felt better, took fewer drugs to relieve their symptoms and saw their doctors less often. If a pill could have such an effect after just three doses, no physician in the world would fail to prescribe it to all her patients.

Now, if we could just get Obamacare to support this…