Writing keeps me breathing

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Title: Writing keeps me breathing: an examination of the practices and efficacy of poetry therapy as a means of coping with trauma
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Description: Poetry is one of our oldest and most powerful art forms. As long as there has been poetry, people have been looking to the healing power in poems to help them. Poetry therapy as we know it today has been growing from centuries of practice and its benefits continue to help with patients suffering not only from psychological trauma but also those dealing with chronic pain as a result of cancer or other diseases. It is widely used on a national and global scale as attested to by the growing National Association for Poetry Therapy and the International Federation for Biblio/Poetry Therapy. Practitioners of poetry therapy believe that the act of writing and reading poetry helps people in coping with trauma and subsequently healing. Previous studies have shown that poets as people have a higher degree of pathology than the general population, one possible reason for this statistic might be that poetry has healing benefits for the poet and the reader (Alvarez, 2014). This thesis examines poetry therapy as a tool for coping with trauma not only in a clinical setting but also in a personal, poetic environment., Honors Thesis Advisor, Dr. Ryan Sittler.
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Contributor: Zelmore, Cynthia. (Author), California University of Pennsylvania. Honors Program.
Date: 2019-04-24
Type: Text
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Identifier: cali:878
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