Writing of sadness and pain: Diary work with depressed women in Finland

Abstract

Through diaries, depressed women are able to chart their passage through depression side-by-side with their involvement in the therapeutic process. Writing in diaries provides meaning for their own experience of depression and enhances the therapeutic process. As diarists, by retelling and reclaiming the events in one's life, they are able to become aware of their own “true” selves and become experts in depression. It is possible that, through depression narratives, voices that are used to expressing sadness become more visible to oneself through the healing pen. The primary objective of this paper is to describe how intensive diary writing can be used as a psychotherapeutic tool for depressed women involved in time limited professionally guided self-help groups in Finland. There were two main ways in which members used their diaries: as a tool for self-reflection and as a support in dealing with psychological and physical pain. The conclusions drawn were that diary work was all about the self in dialogue and this implied a movement away from, if not out of, depression.

Keywords:

• Depression
• diaries
• group work
• healing
• self-help
• women