Saturday, September 13, 2008

The World of Therapeutic Blogging

Look at Freud's Couch. Can you imagine yourself lying on it with The Doctor blowing cigar smoke all over you while you tell him about some ghastly rat-infested dream you had the night before & then he tells you that clearly you'd feel better if you had a penis? I don't think so.
I bet none of his patients ever felt any good. Ever. 
Maybe when they stopped seeing him.
But I read in the newspaper that there is evidence to show that therapeutic blogging may make people feel better. According to a recent issue of 'Scientific American', there is some speculation that  expressive writing may activate a cluster of neurological pathways in the limbic system, which is the area that controls our drives like hunger & sex.
Goody Goody! I KNEW that the blog was doing me good, but I just didn't know how.  
The article quotes research at the University of Texas way back in '99 which said, 'Constructing stories facilitates a sense of resolution, which results in less rumination & eventually allows disturbing experiences to subside gradually from conscious thought.'
Since I'm absolutely Choc Full 'O Disturbing Experiences, this is definitely good news for me.

 Even though all this 'research' is only 'speculative', there's one thing that I can say for Absolutely Sure:
Just before I sat down at the computer this evening, I was feeling Quite Low. But as soon as I opened up 'Della' & clicked on 'New Post', I immediately began to brighten up. Somehow I felt In Charge & At the Helm. 
And it's not the first time that I've felt this way.  I've noticed it many times, particularly since Being Dumped.
So I'm sticking to blogging- its far cozier than Freud's Couch.


1 comment:

hollarback said...

Didn't Freud have an affair with his sister in law? And we should take his advice....hmmmm