Analysis of Transformative Effects of Language Used in Therapeutic Writing

Abstract

This paper presents an analysis of a special category of writing--therapeutic writing and use novel The Sorrow of War as an example for deeper study. Comparing with traditional writing, this essay gave the definition of therapeutic writing. Combined with the 4 elements of literary mentioned by M. H. Abrams (1954), main elements of therapeutic writing are given in. These elements are: the therapy (the work), the therapist (the artist), the pathogenesis (the universe), the patient (the audience = the artist). With the adoption of discourse analysis, specific language features of therapeutic writing are induced. In this part, a certain book The Sorrow of War is taken as an example and its general features are shown: stream of consciousness style, fragmented and none-liner narrative, repetition, diary-like. Then through more detailed language observation, the essay illustrates how application and performance of the language people use are related to their mental well-being. It is suggested that these findings could be a start of the study in a new kind of writing different from traditional writing like fiction or biography, which may expand the study area from neuroscience and psychology to linguistic aspect. Besides, this paper provides a method for people to alleviate their pain and trauma which is of the practical value nowadays.