POETRY FOR MENTAL HEALTH in the Media

Anxious Times - Summer 2022.

In this special feature, poetry magazine editor Robin Barratt explains how words can provide relief from anxiety – and why you don’t need to be a talented writer to get started. 

“Writing poetry can be great therapy for anyone going through difficulties and challenges, and it can be a wonderful healing agent, especially for people living with anxiety. It helps you focus and develop inner strength through which you can more easily meet your external pressures, anxieties, and personal crises. Poetry is not like prose (diaries, journals, essays etc.), where you can use hundreds if not thousands of words to describe an experience, an emotion, a thought or feeling. Poetry is concise and precise, and a place where every word and every line counts.

“Writing poetry is like embarking on a mini journey, with the sole purpose of releasing your contained feelings and emotions into an external world where they are more easily understood and controlled – by yourself, and by others. Poetry gives meaning and clarity to a world around you that often doesn't make any sense. In times of crisis, this gets you focusing and thinking about what you are going through, and why, and how can you put those thoughts and experiences into words. It's true that poetry can be mindbogglingly confusing, but it can also be ever so simple. It can be several pages of complicated verse, or a few simple, easy-to-read words. Whatever form it takes, writing poetry is a unique and personal way of telling your story or making sense of your journey.

“Can anyone be a poet? That's a tricky question and a lot like asking if anyone can be an artist. In theory, anyone can learn the techniques of writing poetry, but, like anything, writing poetry takes practice. Once you start though, it is almost impossible to stop, and you'll quickly find that every time you start to feel anxious or depressed, you pick up a pen and start writing. And this really does help you settle your thoughts and focus on other things. 

“So, how do you start writing poetry for mental health? Simply take a notepad and pen everywhere you go and start making notes about what you see, think, feel and experience. Note down just one or two words, or a short sentence. We remember things more easily if they are attached to an emotion, so if you practice this every day, you'll start to build a portfolio of memory-based words, relating to your experiences, which you can then use to start composing your poems. Read a poem a day too, ideally from different eras, cultures and styles. Stick to just one a day, as this helps you concentrate on one particular style at a time. You’ll slowly start to gravitate towards your preferred style of poetry, as well as developing your own 'voice' when writing poetry. You may prefer the simple haiku, more complicated sonnet, or the open style of free verse. You may find a specific rhythm and beat within your poetry, or you may prefer to use rhyming verse. You may prefer repetitiveness within your verses to highlight a point, or the style of one or two words per line. But one thing is for sure – writing poetry will quickly become an amazingly creative way of helping you grow and develop, and ultimately heal. Get writing!”