Aneeshka Vyas | Contributor
Featured image: Reciting poetry helps create a support community for people battling mental illnesses. | Amir Yazdanparast
In the first century AD, Soranus, a Roman physician, prescribed tragedy for his manic patients and comedy for those who were depressed. The ancient Greeks considered libraries to be “healing places of the soul.”
Literature is a worldwide phenomenon that developed differently over time and regions, but there is one concept that unifies them all—the belief in the power of words and poetry to treat and heal people.
Aristotle discussed the concepts of using poetry for both insight and catharsis, referring to its ability to condense and state things that we usually would not speak of in daily conversation. Sigmund Freud wrote: “Not I, but the poet discovered the unconscious.”
He was a keen advocate of symbolism, which is used quite widely in poetry and its ability to refer to the much more abstract concepts of thought in an almost tangible form.
Poetry is still being used as an effective tool in cognitive therapy for helping patients cope with their psychological issues, having been found to be effective in treating elderly people who suffer from dementia.
In an article published in the Journal of Poetry Therapy, Marvin Wexler found that in older populations, memorization of poetry has been shown to prevent dementia and slow down the onset of Alzheimer’s.
Rhymes and jingles are more effective because their cadence is easier for the elderly to pick out and remember. In nursing homes, the act of regularly reading poetry to seniors and having them participate in rhymes and songs generally had a positive influence on subjects who exhibited symptoms of mental illness.
Writing poetry from the point of view of a person’s mental illness as if it were a person allows them to view their depressogenic beliefs in a more detached manner. This is not to say that poetry in and of itself is enough to aid in complete healing and full recovery, but rather that it promotes better mental health.
Poetry also helps the elderly recall past experiences, in turn helping them with memory and integration.
For a person with Asperger’s Syndrome, an autism spectrum disorder, who is more of a visual thinker, poetry can be used to help them visualize communicative issues through metaphors. This helps them understand and act upon matters that they can improve on.
Many of us memorized poems in our early years and for good reason: poetry has been shown to improve children’s reading capabilities, memorization abilities, development of potential for self-expression, as well as an understanding of rhythm and bring about emotional intelligence.
Poetry provides the antidote to a culture that is constantly racing against time and discarding anything found to not be useful. At a time where the aged are being put in nursing homes and left behind, it serves as a soothing balm in its need to be slowly read in order to be absorbed and understood, its deep philosophical approach to life and its relevance to the vast array of emotions these elderly have experienced throughout their lifetime.
“When I read poetry it unlocks a different part of my brain. The reason being is that I have to look within to understand what the words mean,” says Fatema Ali, a third-year biology student. Poetry can help make logical and figurative connections, forcing them to actively think, which may help with memory disorders and impaired reasoning.
Some say that poetry is now becoming extinct in a culture where modern technology is being consumed at an increasing rate. But if one looks at the other side of the coin, the influx of technology, especially mass communication and social media, has greatly expanded the extent to which poetry can be shared and read. Social networking sites such as Tumblr and Instagram have many accounts completely dedicated to poetry. In a way, social media is both the problem and the answer, as it is now much easier to access poetry online and virtually anywhere.
The beauty of poetry as a promoter of mental health stems from its volatile nature. It can be imbibed and etched into one’s memory, yet developed and produced in a simple form by someone who desires to create it. It can also function as a powerful symbol through metaphors and conveys stories in its own unique form.
