Oversimplification

Jesus cured all of them. This was in fulfillment of what was spoken by the prophet Isaiah, "A bruised reed He will not break, and a smoldering (dimly burning) wick He will not quench."

(Excerpted from Matthew 12:15-20, the Amplified Bible)

HOME

Reflections:

Unplugged from church

Oversimplification

It's dangerous to oversimplify serious spiritual and emotional issues

As a member of The Writers View online discussion group, I was intrigued in October 2009 when I read a post by author and mental health professional Deborah Dunn. The discussion that week was about the need to be concise in our writing. Deborah warned of damage that can be inflicted on people when writers are so brief they make sweeping generalizations. Her observations resonated with me, and I asked her permission to share her post on WoundedChristians.com.

Brevity in Writing Can Be Dangerous by Deborah Dunn, LMFT

I'm certain we all want to be clean, mean, writing machines, delivering a message communicated effectively in a manner that keeps our readers engaged, but do we all have to write spare, choppy sound bytes to be considered good writers? Where is the individuality in that?

That aside; we are now witnessing a cultural phenomenon impacting communication regardless of our unique style of delivery. Brevity, for good or ill, seems to be the order of the day.

Brevity forces us to discipline and that is a good thing. But the trend I see in writing, particularly nonfiction, is to simply cover the bullet points, often sacrificing crucial qualifying information for the sake of that brevity.

As a mental health professional, that makes me uncomfortable, especially when writers oversimplify serious spiritual and emotional issues. They encapsulate complex clinical information into quick pills their readers won't mind swallowing, often coating the bitter medicine with nice sweet scripture to make it more Christian. The end result is that many are giving pat, easily digestible answers to serious life problems without consideration for those whose lives may be hanging in the balance.

But what if the medicine kills the person emotionally or spiritually because, for the sake of brevity, there was no discussion of the contraindications, exceptions, or side effects? What happens to our readers who make major life decisions based on information that was pared down due to the need to adhere to a prescribed word count?

Then writing becomes a risky, if not downright dangerous, business.
__________________________________

Deborah Dunn, Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist, lives in North Carolina. In addition to writing and counseling, she teaches workshops and seminars on health, wellness, and relationships and is a sought-after motivational speaker. Learn more at http://www.deborahdunn.com.

Invisible Web Counterdiscount hotel dublin