Trygga rum för obearbetade ord - En intervjustudie om kvinnor och transpersoners skrivande och läsande hälsa

Abstract

The purpose of this thesis is to investigate what connections can be found between reading, writing and mental health in relationship to the segmented group of women and transgender people. With a theoretical structure based on identity construction and gender theory, this thesis analyses how writing and reading can be used as therapeutic forms of treatment. Through a qualitative study conducted with Swedish writers and participants of writing courses who struggle with mental health issues, we discuss what happens to their perceived health when they write or analyse literature in group settings. In addition, this thesis highlights how separatist rooms for women and transgender people are perceived to impact the participants sense of health, as well as their writing or reading process. A main point of our thesis is to show how perfomative actions such as writing and other ways of expressing oneself through literature, can be used as tools to transform one’s identity and in the long run one’s sense of well-being.