Writing Beyond the Self

Journaling (once known as keeping a diary) is now a regularly prescribed therapeutic “tool.” According to researchers Karen A. Baikie and Kay Wilhelm, “Writing about traumatic, stressful or emotional events has been found to result in improvements in both physical and psychological health, in both clinical and non-clinical populations.”1

See, things could be worse.

Sure, your sister died of a heroin overdose, but at least she wasn’t raped, sodomized, tortured, and beheaded three thousand miles from home in 118-degree heat by five jihadists because she carried a Bible.

For example, telling a war refugee, “Cheer up, millions of people get shot at and live happy lives in squalid camps in strange lands,” is futile at best, and outrageous cruelty at worst.