Reevaluating the Language of Pain: A combination of literary and visual arts- based methods

This paper explores the impact ofmaintaining a daily journal using visual and literary methods (blackout poetryand mark-making), to express the experience of chronic pain. Focusing on thedialogues of six participant semi-structured interviews, following twoarts-based workshops and two weeks of participant journaling, the challengesand the potential for these methods to promote conscientious self-managementand effective pain communication is explored. The results of this study areevidenced to produce therapeutic benefit and encourage an expressive andindividualised, alternative method for constructing a narrative of chronic painexperience.