Psychology and creative writing: the role of experiential learning in the journey from fact to fiction, and the implications for therapy

This qualitative research paper discusses the importance of experiential learning in the creative writing process, the cognitive processing of difficult emotions that can result from writing creatively in both the first and third person, and the implications of this in therapeutic settings. It looks at the ways experiential learning can come not just first-hand from life experience, but also through interviewing others about their experiences, and the ways Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis can then be used to interpret the material and act as a stepping stone between fact and fiction. The study is based on the writer's 20-year databank of journalistic interviews, which represents hundreds of single case studies, and also on her experience of writing four published novels. It examines the significance of the overlap between creativity, psychology, and journalism, and the therapeutic implications of that overlap for journalists, authors, and psychologists and their patients.