“There is no greater agony than bearing an untold story inside you.” – Maya Angelou.
That writing about your problems could have some merit may seem far-fetched in the era where LinkedIn too has joined the cringe-bandwagon.
However, research indicates that there’s more to this than meets the eye.
The crucial role of writing in helping alleviate trauma became apparent to me when I read “Eaten by the Japanese”. The book is about the experiences of a British Indian soldier as a Prisoner of War after being captured by the Japanese during World War 2).
His son, Richard Crasta (an independent writer I greatly admire) observes the book was his father’s effort to “exorcize his ghosts by consigning them to paper”.
Likewise, the after-taste of Richard Crasta’s “The Killing of an Author” (the story of the struggle and sacrifices of an uncompromising, independent writer) lingered in my mind long after I had finished reading the book.
Lest one dismisses this a variant of masochism, works written by blood and tears possess the capacity to drill purpose into an ennui-filled existence.
Googling up a bit, I found vast literature on this subject. Writing as a Way of Healing: How Telling Our Stories Transforms Our Lives by Louise Desalvo appears to be among the more popular books in this genre (the author blogs here). She outlines a step-by-step process on how to use writing for healing, and I found this quick-take.
She writes, “Important cultural work is being done by people writing the literature of personal disaster – the work of helping to assuage suffering”.
Suffering is an inescapable reality of life. However, the meaning we ascribe to it makes all the difference. The trauma, when accepted as an inevitable part of one’s purpose ceases to hurt us and instead becomes the springboard for one’s growth.
Indeed, “the difference between a victim and a survivor is the meaning made of trauma.”*
When we write, we’re freed from the burden of mental cache of past memories, and the released space can be utilized for newer pursuits.
It’s a recuperative tool that helps the person understand what precisely is troubling him, define it in clear terms, and help the person move along.
Particularly when trauma is caused by failure of public systems, the survivors are duty-bound to break their silence and speak up. In doing so, they are performing a vital social service of shaming the shame that gags the fellow-sufferers from opening up.
*quotes by Louise Desalvo
Musings by Madhav 
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