Bibliotherapy? or is it just writing therapy?

So counselor Michelle has recommended 15 minutes of journaling per day as therapeutic. Apparently there is a psych from Australia named Michael White who has concluded that it can actually boost the immune system. I imagine it has other benefits as well, or why would a counselor recommend it?

I do enjoy talking to her. I suppose besides the fact that she is quite personable, there is also the fact that she seems to let me off the hook for things I feel guilty about, mostly having to do with Problem Child. The beloved, exasperating, despair-inducing Problem Child.

Never was a child so loved. Never. Except for the other one, of course. Never were 2 children so loved. As I am sure many have wondered before I did, why isn't that enough? The eternal, "why?" I am sure it echoes down history, in every language known to man. It accompanies the devastating, "if only."

Still freaked out by living alone but it is getting a tiny bit better.

I am unsure if this indulgent stream of consciousness is what Michelle has in mind. It was kind of a nebulous assignment, to tell the truth. And I have been bitten by a mosquito, which I blame on Fils #1, as he broke my screen door and after 4 years has never replaced it.

Let me go look up Michael White. Ok, so Wikipedia says he died in 2008. "Key therapeutic ideas developed by White include 'externalizing the problem',^[8] commonly summarised as 'the person is not the problem, the problem is the problem'; 're-authoring' the dominant stories of people's lives; and the idea of 'double-listening' to accounts of trauma: not only the accounts of trauma itself, but how people have responded to trauma."

Not very enlightening, at least not to me.

Here's what wikipedia says about bibliotherapy, "Bibliotherapy is an expressive therapy that uses an individual's relationship to the content of books and poetry and other written words as therapy. Bibliotherapy is often combined with writing therapy. Bibliotherapy has been shown to be effective in the treatment of depression.^[1] These results have been shown to be long lasting.^[2]"

^{I guess what I am doing is actually writing therapy, about which wikipedia says, "Writing therapy is a form of expressive therapy that uses the act of writing and processing the written word as therapy. Writing therapy posits that writing one's feelings gradually eases pain and strengthens the immune system.[1] Writing therapeutically can take place individually or in a group and it can be administered in person with a therapist or remotely through mailing or the Internet."}

^{Michelle said she is giving everyone a writing assignment this week, because a friend or colleague apparently recently mentioned it to her. Naturally I wished it was something special she only wanted MEEEEEE to do. Because I am of course her most special and favorite patient.}

^{Qu'ils mangent du gateau. I wonder what Marie Antoinette would have done with a blog?}

^{I should get to work early tomorrow and try and get caught up, which will never actually happen but I am getting anxious about the way it's piling up. FIVE new losses today! That is a new record. It does make the day fly by, so that's something. I am beyond lucky to have such a great boss. Doesn't stop me from about having an anxiety attack over the work though.}

^{I forgot to note what time I started writing but it seems like this muse be close to 15 minutes.}

^{Some old movie had a song about going to sleep counting your blessings. It might have been Holiday Inn or White Christmas. Here are my blessings, or at least some of them:}

I have 2 kids that I love to pieces

^{I have a family}

^{My parents are both still around}

Fils #1 is engaged so I will have a daughter-in law-next year

I am healthy

I have a house

I have a car

I have a job

I am intelligent

I have a great boss

I am good at my job

I have insurance

My back doesn't hurt

I have at least 2 friends I can talk to when I'm down

A toute a l'heure

CAM