Creative writing as a means to recover from early psychosis– Experiences from a group intervention

ABSTRACT

Background

In this paper, we explore the subjective experiences of a group intervention in creative writing (CW) for young adults being treated for psychosis.

Method

A qualitative and exploratory design was applied. Five out of eight patients who were offered a course in CW with two-hour weekly sessions for 12 weeks took part in this study. The five participants who followed through were interviewed after project termination. Systematic text condensation was applied to the transcribed interviews.

Results

The analysis revealed three overarching themes: a) the group was valued as a creative community, b) there was safety in the structured yet flexible framing of the course, c) the participants experienced creative freedom that enabled a feeling of mastery.

Conclusion

CW was well conceived. The feelings of connectedness and mastery were prominent. The participants experienced growth on several levels. Our findings support previous work on arts therapy as a means to recovery.

KEYWORDS:

• Creative writing
• psychosis
• arts therapy
• psychosocial intervention
• recovery

Acknowledgments

We would like to thank the participants for sharing their experiences and texts with us.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Declarations

Availability of data and material: Because of the small sample size and the written informed consent, the data are not available to other researchers.

Supplementary material

Supplemental data for this article can be accessed online at https://doi.org/10.1080/17533015.2022.2130379

Additional information

Funding

The author(s) reported there is no funding associated with the work featured in this article.