How does photography help pain/illness?

Here is how past participants in one of my pain/illness projects answered this question:

“I could be me while still hiding behind a cover.”

“It helped to connect my creative side with feelings that I don’t usually express to others.”

“Using photography helped me open the subject without having to say a word, yet explaining the photo helped me to really open myself up.”

“I had never used it (photography) before and I really enjoyed it. It helped me explore new feelings and thoughts, as well as take more time to think about old beliefs and feelings and investigate them. I really enjoyed putting together a pic, looking at it, playing with it for while, and having new ideas pop up!”

“By saying the things I personally can’t say.”

“I think it challenged me to look at a lot of the areas in my life that I gloss over and to quantify my feelings about them.”

“I mostly used abstract photos, however they helped me learn a lot about myself. I also used them to share how it felt to be in chronic pain 24/7/365. I also used images to help people realize they aren’t alone and are more than their pain.”

“Shows me that I can be stronger and not let it bring me down. That I can use it to empower myself and others as well.”

“I had not used any visual means to express anything I felt about my illness/pain before this project. It gave me a way of saying things that touched others and helped me see myself more clearly.”

“I don’t often share at all so it helped enormously.”

“I made me look deeply and analyze.”

“Previously, pain and my illness were something I refused to think about, just something between doctor’s appointments when I had to try to describe it. This project encouraged me to take it out, hold it in my hands, turn it round and round, consider, take it in, then use the right side of my brain to describe it with photography. This was very timely for me, as I was in the midst of the worst, uncontrolled flare in 18 years of RA. Having others participate was crucial to my experience – not only their acknowledging my illness/pain, but the inspiration, practical ideas, and “normalizing” what I’m going through got me out of bed each day. This was amazing.”

“It also helped me to notice things I may not normally have and then to document those things.”