Writing is Therapeutic--Just Do It!

After my traumatic experience, I suffered anxiety, hyper-activity, over-responsiveness, overeaction, depression, and confusion about how I felt. Like many who develop PTSD and depression I became detached from my emotions, and this makes it even harder to discover that something in our emotional system has gone terribly wrong.

When I felt depressed, the only things I felt like doing were writing/typing and planning vacations. Vacations gave me something to look forward to, whether I took them or not--and I was usually too exhausted to travel anywhere. But I was always able to write. I have always known that writing is therapeutic because it allows us to express emotions that we might not know we had. Writing is one of the best things I might have done to reconnect with myself while suffering an emotional disorder.

Recognizing invisible emotional disorders is of great concern because without knowing the symptoms, treatment is impossible. Another great concern is fear of stigma, which keeps sufferers from getting treatment.Ten years ago, PTSD and depression were words that created feelings of guilt, insecurity, and shame because they were associated with some type of stigma, but this is no longer the case. Nearly every week, we hear of tragic events that happened because someone was suffering depression or PTSD. We now hear stories told by celebrities who overcame their emotional disorders.

PTSD and depression are not anyone's fault but they are everyone's responsibility. To eliminate these invisible illnesses we all need to know the symptoms. Just as it takes a combination of factors working together to create conditions for the perfect emotional disorder, it takes a community of people to recognize such illnesses and offer help. The combination of factors that can lead to PTSD or depression include: a tragic event, sustained or overwhelming stress or abuse, especially in childhood, and genetics. Factors can be biological, environmental or psychosocial, but no one factor is responsible for the onset of an emotional disorder.

It's not important to know the exact factors that caused the emotional disorder. What's important is knowing the symptoms and recognizing how these disorders work. Untreated, they leave sufferers at risk of suicide. Knowing the symptoms of PTSD and depression is the first step in treatment, but before we can help others, we must be aware of our own emotions and negative thoughts, and we must learn to help ourselves.

Writing is fundamental and writing is therapeutic. Emotions need to be expressed, and writing allows us to do that. If I wasn't a writer, I don't know if my PTSD would have been discovered because there was no one who knew the questions to ask, not even myself. Start writing about your feelings, learn about emotional disorders, and become proactive in managing your life so that you're able to help someone else.