Argues that the healer acts as the muse of the humanities, while the humanities function as healer's creative force. Describes how the author reached the crossroads of the humanities and healing (as an English professor and a psychotherapist), and examines the work of John Keats. Shows how poetry therapists stand at the crossroads where emotion…

Poetry therapy has been in use with adult psychiatric patients at Saint Elizabeths Hospital, Washington, D.C, for 10 years. The treatment used involves reading poetry, listening to recordings, studying poets, and writing poetry. The patients' choice of poems is not restricted by the staff, but different types of poetry appeal to different types of…

This paper reviews the research literature pertaining to the use of poetry writing in counseling and psychotherapy as a therapeutic intervention. The paper begins with the theoretical perspectives of poetry, then discusses S. Freud's and C. Jung's views of poetry from the psychological perspective. This is followed by a discussion of studies on…

This paper reports the results of creative writing workshops in various psychiatric hospitals that have demonstrated that individuals in psychiatric settings have particular needs, affinities, and receptivities to the means of self-expression and communication available through creative writing. The purgative effect of Emily Dickinson's poetry and…

Psychoanalysts and psychotherapists in general do not apprehend the data of their field in any strict literal sense. Rather, they prefigure psychopathological data at a precognitive level. This prefiguration employs one or more of the poetic tropes of metaphor, metonymy, synecdoche, and irony. Each psychotherapy achieves its particular explanatory…

The use of poetry as a valuable part of the psychotherapeutic experience has gained increasing acceptance and usage in recent years. Poetry provides a viable modality for releasing intense emotions and reducing anxieties and hostilities. Poetry therapy was used with an 18-year-old male who was experiencing sexual orientation disturbance to examine…

The introduction of poetry into psychotherapy in the Western (European American) tradition and a growing interest in connections between the fine arts and the healing arts have prompted investigations of the parallel uses of poetry in other cultures. Examples of how three native American groups (Oglala Sioux, Piman, and Navaho) have used poetry in…