Every writer knows there is nothing better or worse for one's mental health than writing.
While producing a well-crafted line of prose or poetry is an especially fulfilling aspect of our profession, nothing can frustrate more than the inability to move words out of your brain and onto the page. Those who have suffered from the latter condition won't be surprised to hear that studies suggest writers and other creative types suffer from mental illness more frequently than the rest of the population. Don't throw down your pen yet. In their study, seventy persons with arthritis and asthma were asked to write about stressful experiences, then compared to peers who wrote about non-stressful experiences. Both physician rating and objective measures of disease severity were superior for the group who wrote about stress, a condition that persisted for four months.