Getting it out

Putting things into words (or music or painting) is indeed making conscious what has hitherto not been fully so. By removing what is in our minds from within to 'out there', we alter our attitude towards these contents.

A phantasy which has never been spoken or written is differently apprehended by the person who harbours it from the same phantasy when it has been objectified. This is not only because, once written or spoken, it can be communicated and shared with another person; it is because it becomes an object separate from the person himself, which can be contemplated and studied by the person himself.

[Anthony Storr]
The Dynamics of Creation, p.224