Poetry Cures Ills of the Heart, Mind and Body

Poems have always served as medicines for the human soul—the use of poetry as a mental & emotional curative is now institutionalized in National Poetry Therapy Association. But every once in a while, poetry makes news as a means of physical healing as well—remember Scott Adams’ rhyming cure last year for the neurological disorder that had rendered him speechless?

from The San Francisco Chronicle:
“Warrior poet’s story is one of hope, dogged determination,” by John Coté
“Wilkerson credits writing poetry, something he was able to remember doing before his brain injury, as a driving force in his recovery... ‘My injuries are on the left side of my body, but my poetry is on the right side of my brain,’ Wilkerson said. ‘That actually made me feel like I was a man again, rather than a patient.’ ‘He's our warrior poet,’ said Susan Feighery, one of his treatment specialists at the VA.”

from AlternativeMedicine.com:
“Balancing Act—The Poetry Cure,” by Ann Japenga
“Her cushion? Not a daily meditation practice or a stress-busting supplement, but poetry. In her mind’s eye, its images and rhythms transform her everyday surroundings into something new and fresh... Sure, it’s 120 degrees outside, but isn’t that brutal glare simply the world blazing, ‘like shining from shook foil,’ as Gerard Manley Hopkins said?”

Poetry therapy at other About.com sites:
About Alcoholism & Substance Abuse, Guide Buddy T—“Addicts Use Poetry as Addiction Therapy”
About Headaches & Migraines—“Writing As Therapy, Pain Into Poetry”