Creative Writing and Personal Development

Can creative writing/journaling have a beneficial effect on a person’s emotional relationship to food?

This research is part of my MA dissertation on Creative Writing and Personal Development. I want to assess the benefits of creative writing and explore the ways that people use this. I want to see if certain forms of writing have a stronger impact than others, and if so why. I am interested in finding out whether writing is enough or whether the work needs to be read in order to have any therapeutic benefits.

I am interested in hearing the opinion of both therapists and those suffering from an eating disorder. I want to hear whether you use writing as a therapeutic tool, in formal sessions or alone. Have you found it useful or not?

If you are willing to take part I can send you a survey either by email or by mail, whichever you feel most comfortable with. You will not be chased if you receive the survey and then decide you do not wish to take part. You can pull out at any time, and any lack of response will be seen as a change of mind.

I can guarantee complete anonymity and the opportunity to see the finished project if necessary. I will use synonyms if I need to refer to a particular response. All surveys will be destroyed at the end of the project. It is a requirement that all participants sign and date the survey to indicate permission for responses to be used.

Thanks for reading. If you are interested in taking part you can email me at

A.M.V.Head@sussex.ac.uk

Or contact me by post