Journal October 2026 Special DISPUK Release_Full Version - Flipbook - Page 93
92
Writing Letters as Therapy
Lone Kaae Morell, DISPUK
In this article, I will demonstrate how writing (and exchanging) letters is not
merely a method, but an ethical and political practice. I share a five-week
therapeutic process in a letter exchange with a woman who wanted to confront
some traumatic events in her life. She thought she had put the past behind her,
but suddenly it resurfaced in the present and startled her. That is why she turned
to me. Her letters became active acts, and my replies became poetic testimonies
to the discoveries she made. Most important of all was her right to decide for
herself what she wanted to feel, remember, write, and reflect, and her
unquestionable right to decide when she wanted to read my replies and questions.
My letters contained, in part, affirming poeticizations of the woman9s skills and
values, and in part, I shared concrete knowledge about how unpleasant events can
destroy one9s sense of self, especially when they are not met with understanding
and support. Finally, I posed four questions in the hope that they would inspire her
and spark both awareness and reflection—questions inspired by narrative work on
trauma and responses.
Post Office Box
The town post office by the coast in a small town in Central America. The heat is
slowly circulated by large wooden ventilation blades in the high-ceilinged room.
The feeling of longing mingles with the feeling of freedom.
I walk out of the post office and sit down in the park next to the vanilla-colored
church. The young palm trees cast filtered shade over the older people playing
dominoes at rickety metal tables. I opened my letter. The beautiful, thin
stationery.
