Recontextualizing Senses of Self, World and Other: A Qualitative Study of Creative Writing Workshops for People Suffering from Severe Mental Illness

Abstract The aim of this study was to explore how the aesthetic aspects of facilitated creative writing workshops support recovery processes among individuals with severe mental illness. Through a qualitative thematic analysis with participants (n = 11) in creative writing workshops, the study reveals that aesthetic recontextualization strengthens self-world relations by enabling participants to articulate experiential alterity. This process fosters creative empowerment, self-care, and positive social interactions as participants transform abstract and chaotic experiences into concrete, shareable expressions. Unlike psychiatric language and categorizations, aesthetic expression reconnects language to embodied, perceptual experiences, offering an alternative to pathologization. Drawing on phenomenological perspectives, the study highlights how creative writing activates responsivity to the unpredictable nature of severe mental illness, facilitating coherence and openness in self-world relations. Creative writing is shown to provide a pathway for confronting experiential chaos and fostering subjective unification. Additionally, the study emphasizes the social dimension of recovery, where aesthetic processes enable intersubjective encounters and shared meaning-making. These findings suggest that creative writing workshops can significantly support mental health recovery by integrating divergent experiences into meaningful and socially enriching forms. Further research is encouraged to examine the social aspects of aesthetic recovery processes.