Writing as Narrative Resource in Therapeutic Settings

Abstract

Abstract This chapter explores the benefits of diary writing and notetaking in psychotherapeutic contexts. As a malleable discursive form that can accommodate both narrative and nonnarrative, verbal and nonverbal (e.g., pictorial) material, diaries have long served as a means to document one’s everyday experiences but also to work through times of distress. Diaries are also used in research to capture people’s engagement with specific issues concerning them. This chapter offers an overview of uses of the diary in various contexts before it discusses a concrete example from the psychotherapeutic practice of one of the authors. The chapter explores the potential literariness of diary entries, as can be seen in Roland Barthes’s Mourning Diary and other examples, and it traces the healing potential of such literary or creative activities in the case study. Diary writing is thus shown to constitute a viable method that offers alternative forms of self-expression and another departure point for therapists’ interactions with clients.