Steve Bloom/The Olympian
Susan Stone says writing has helped her deal with schizoaffective disorder.

Sarah Jackson/The Olympian
Olympia counselor Frederick Bryan encourages some clients to discover themselves and their goals through writing and poetry. Bryan serves tea in a relaxing atmosphere bordered by books.

Pen power

Writing can bring mental and physical benefits

SARAH JACKSON, THE OLYMPIAN

OLYMPIA -- Susan Stone, the kind of woman who exhibits a certain shy charisma, always liked writing.

Even as a kid, she impressed her teachers with original stories.

Still, Stone never had true confidence in her work -- a passing fancy.

Today, however -- more than 20 years after being diagnosed with schizoaffective disorder -- writing means more than ever to Stone.

Sitting in her west Olympia apartment, Stone thinks about her words -- poems, letters and journals.

"Writing therapy is like nothing I've ever seen or experienced before," Stone said, reviewing her poems, sprinkled with colorful, lyrical phrases. "It's been such a huge instrument for going into remission. Writing is what I do. It's my life."

Stone's writings recall points of light in her daily life, the joy and innocence of her granddaughter, the kind bus driver with Intercity Transit, the compassion and acceptance she's found in the world despite hardship.

Stone first fully embraced writing as remedy in therapy groups at Behavior Health Resources in Olympia, where she met counselor and facilitator Frederick Bryan.

Bryan -- currently seeking a master's degree in counseling psychology from Vermont College -- met Stone while working as an intern at BHR.

"People in transition, people in crisis, people who just don't feel good need to be heard," Bryan said. "Some people are way loaded down, and some people just have a light backpack."

Stone writes every day -- even if it's just a letter to a sister or friend.

"It's as regular for me as taking my medicine," Stone said. "There's three things for me -- medication, writing and having a strong support network."

Physical benefits?

Certainly, the cathartic benefits of writing have long been emphasized. Confessional writing dates back to at least Shakespeare's time.

But recently, the medical community has noted the physiological payback possible through writing, too.

Work by James Pennebaker, a psychology professor at the University of Texas at Austin, compared a group of college students who wrote about a traumatic event with a control group that wrote about trivial things.

Visits to the campus health clinic actually decreases for the group that wrote about disturbing events.

Still other studies have linked therapeutic writing to decreases in blood pressure and increases in immune system strength.

The Journal of the American Medical Association in 1999 reported results of a study from Syracuse University, which indicated that writing exercises can help alleviate symptoms of asthma and rheumatoid arthritis.

Even if writers don't share their journals or poetry, Bryan said, the process of expunging the information can be wonderfully liberating -- mentally and physically.

"Writing is one aspect of letting go," Bryan said. "(Writing) releases the energy that was holding that (traumatic secrets, pain or stress), and the result is, there's more energy for immune responses or just more energy for life."

'Truth'

Bryan, who serves as a regional representative for the Washington, D.C.-based National Association for Poetry Therapy as well as the director for the newly formed Northwest Poetry Therapy Group, uses writing therapy as one element in his new private practice, Inner Sessions in Olympia.

Not everyone likes to write, of course, said Bryan, who is a certified instructor of "Journal to the Self," a 1990 book from the Kathleen Adams Center for Journal Therapy in Lakewood, Colo.

But for those who try it, there are no specific requirements or demands.

Speaking the truth and being honest helps, however.

Rebecca Chamberlain, an instructor of literature and writing at the Evergreen State College, also believes in the power of writing.

Through her work with prisoners incarcerated in Washington, Chamberlain has seen men and women gain self-esteem, hope and pride in the midst of prison.

"All of your own unfinished business you need to learn in real life," Chamberlain said, "gets worked out in shorthand in writing."

Truth, Chamberlain said, "means we get to a point where you, layer by layer, let your true self and your true voice and values -- the things that you know come from your sincerity -- to come through."

Prisoners, especially, Chamberlain said, can use the writing to tap wells of emotion.

"Through writing, they're able to go to a very deep, and even playful, place," Chamberlain said. "There's also a gentler part of themselves that they're able to come in contact with -- reclaiming their innocence in a world where if you are innocent and sincere, you might be dead."

Surviving

Writing helped Stone get through a major breakdown she suffered last May.

Psychotic and delusional as a result of her illness, Stone received two key visits from friends during a bout with her condition, a rare and complex combination of mood disorders and schizophrenia.

First, an Olympia friend stopped by the mental ward at Providence St. Peter Hospital to see Stone.

Then Bryan came, too, and gave her a journal and pens.

"He saw me in a such a disgraceful condition," Stone said, "and he never, ever made me feel shamed."

Though she didn't write in the journal until her third of three weeks at St. Pete's, Stone today cites medication, that journal and visitors as a bridge to her sanity at a time when everyone thought she was bound for a stay at Western State Hospital in Lakewood.

"For me, it (the journal) was the thread: 'I will go back out of this hospital strong. I will do this work,' " Stone said. "I could look at the page and say, 'You know what? I was given these pages to put my reality on them.'

"Slowly, each new entry that I made became progressively healthier."

Intellect

Stone said writing helps her gain confidence to be out in the world. It helps her see her problems with objectivity.

Writing helps her break from "assembly line humanity," too.

"One thing writing does is it gets us moving in our intellect," Stone said. "When you get into writing, you start using your brain. You start exploring your brain and all of the sudden you find yourself interacting in life instead of just existing in it."

It's like coming out of fog, Stone said.

"It's, for me, realizing I'm still a part of the big picture," Stone said, "that I have a significant contribution to make to the society and knowing that we fit together somehow.

"So many people don't even think. They just go along. They don't even respond to the path around them."

Bryan believes people, to write, have to engage the right and left hemispheres of their brain, thereby grounding the mind in creative as well as methodical thought.

"I love language. I love metaphor," Bryan said. "There was a point in my life when the only thing that kept me alive was words and music."

Product

Bryan -- who is offering six free talks on writing therapy this month -- said people who want to start a journal don't have to write in it every day and don't have to be poetic either.

Just telling stories about life -- and, perhaps, retelling them in a more positive light -- can be life-changing.

"It's really not about product," Bryan said. "It's about saying what's true for you -- the fact that it's true often turns into something like poetry."

Stone -- active in the community and in mental health support circles -- hopes she'll never have a breakdown again. She's planning on taking courses at Tacoma Community College, too.

So far, writing has helped keep Stone on track.

"You don't have to be mentally ill to benefit from writing," Stone said. "I think writing should be a part of everybody's life -- even it's a paragraph a day."

Sarah Jackson writes for The Olympian and can be reached at 360-704-6871 or olyjax@yahoo.com.

Free talks

- What: "Writing for the Health of It: The Psychological and Physiological Benefits of Writing" -- six free talks by Olympia counselor Frederick Bryan who holds bachelor's and master's degrees from Oregon State University. Bring your journal and a pen.

- Where and when: Timberland Regional Library locations in South Sound. In Olympia: noon Tuesday and 7 p.m. Jan. 29 at 313 Eighth Ave. S.E.; in Lacey: noon Wednesday and 7 p.m. Jan. 30 at 500 College St. S.E.; and in Tumwater: noon Jan. 22 and 7 p.m. Jan. 28 at 7023 New Market St.

- Call: 360-528-2439 or visit www.InnerSessions.net to learn more about the talks or the Northwest Poetry Therapy Group.

- Resources: Visit www.nami.org, www.poetrytherapy.org and www.journaltherapy.com.

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