Sometimes a person needs a story more than food to stay alive.
– Barry Lopex, Crow and Weasel
The first time I heard this quote its resonance reverberated through my being for days. For nearly 30 years, it has remained one of my favorite quotes pertaining to the power of storytelling.
There have been many different times, particularly during some of my darkest times, when a story (in one form or another) came to me exactly when I needed it. I have experienced innumerable benefits that have supported my wellness and wholeness. It is easy question one’s experience or dismiss it as simply my perception or any of the growing list of reasons to doubt. Over the years, I started hearing about some of the research that was informing practice and validating the power of storytelling.
I am extremely thankful that we live in a time where there is an exorbitant amount of science, new technology, and research, to enhance our knowledge and document the findings. This offering is dedicated to sharing a small sample of discoveries that I found inspiring, informative, affirming or confirming, and supportive of healing, resilience, and well-being. I am not a scientist, nor have I played one on TV… But I am learning (and a bit surprised, actually) of how capable I am of “geeking-out” on scientific discovery, particularly involving this subject.
As human beings, our bodily systems and different aspects of health are interconnected. The understanding of “mind, body, and spirit,” has come a long way, much like the science illustrating the impact of the various types of trauma and identifying best practices we can use to support healing and resilience. It is not surprising that a number of modalities which use storytelling have been found to be extremely helpful for many people, within different settings and using multidisciplinary approaches.
True confession… part of me would rather speak of the power of story work with terms like “story magic” or alchemy, because of the numerous years of experiencing the unique energetic dance that occurs between a teller and their audience, regardless of whether it is one person or 100. Witnessing the trance and the transformation that has taken place with audiences of all ages and within very diverse settings has left me feeling a mix of joy and awe. However, science now offers me another, equally magical vantage point and understanding of the amazing complexity of the human mind and experience, as well as how interconnected we are and can be.
Our physiological, including neurological response to story and story structure has become hard wired into our amazing, and in some ways troublesome, brains. Yes, I said troublesome, because whether we are consciously aware of it or not, brain science has helped us understand the vast amount of activity our brain does without our conscious awareness.
Our brains are creating neural maps and narratives as part of our daily, waking lives; they are working hard to protect us and are constantly on multiple missions – one of those being to create meaning and help us make sense of things. Kendall Haven (2007) offers a concise and comprehensive synopses of the growing body of science across the different disciplines. I highly recommend reading his book, Story Proof: The Science Behind the Startling Power of Story, to learn more.
Haven (2007) also explains how mirror neurons provide a simulated experience for the listener, activating multiple physiological and sensory responses in real time as they are listening to the story. This provides the experience of being within the story as it is really happening. Of course, the members of the audience are not the only ones with mirror neurons. The storyteller’s mirror neurons are activated in turn by the audience’s responses; hence, the energetic dance I was referring to a moment ago. In effect, each telling of a particular story is a unique, co-created experience that is also generating multisensory, multisystem responses as well as feelings of relaxation, connection, anger, empathy, fear, grief, etc.
This is due in part because storytelling affects specific hormones and neurotransmitters; increasing levels of oxytocin and dopamine while decreasing levels of the stress hormone, cortisol. Researchers have been exploring and documenting how storytelling can be used as an effective tool within a medical treatment setting. For example, a relatively recent study conducted in Sao Paulo, Brazil, documents the impact on physical health outcomes, including the ability to decrease pain in hospitalized children (Brockington, G., et al., 2021).
Lastly, the World Health Organization (WHO) is using the power of storytelling as part of their Communication for Health (C4H) public health initiative for the Western Pacific Region. This effort has created content that addresses numerous health and behavioral health issues. To learn more about the C4H initiative, please click here. I was quite really impressed by the size and scope of this initiative.
Should you feel intrigued by any of this subject matter, I invite you to take a look at the bottom of the blog for a modest resource list I created for those who might want to learn more. As a storyteller and storyteacher, I remain in awe of the power of story medicine and after reading more of the research, I will continue to refer to the healing power of story as such.
I invite you to watch the supplemental video segment where I will be discussing how story medicine supports our emotional, intellectual, and spiritual health, and inevitably sharing a story or two.
List of Resources
- Interview with Annie Brewster, Author of, The Healing Power of Storytelling: Using Personal Narrative to Navigate Illness, Traum, and Loss: https://magazine.hms.harvard.edu/articles/healing-power-storytelling
- James W. Pennebaker interview (positive health impacts from writing/journaling about our traumas): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=avxXXE2_PUA
- Pennebaker, J. W., & Seagal, J. D. (1999). Forming a story: The health benefits of narrative. Journal of Clinical Psychology, 55(10), 1243–1254.
- Special Issue on Storytelling and Healing: https://www.jstor.org/stable/i40090504 Storytelling increases oxytocin and positive emotions and decreases cortisol and pain in
- hospitalized children: https://www.pnas.org/doi/abs/10.1073/pnas.2018409118
- The Science Behind Storytelling: When You Give a Brain a Story: https://storysoft.io/the-science-behind-storytelling/
- The World Health Organization utilizes the power of storytelling to reduce shame & stigma, as well as provide examples of individuals with lived experience to inspire action: https://www.who.int/westernpacific/newsroom/feature-stories/item/the-power-of-storytelling-for-health-impact
References
- Brockington G., Moreira A., Buso M., Gomes da Silva S., Altszyler E., Fischer R., et al. (2021). Storytelling increases oxytocin and positive emotions and decreases cortisol and pain in hospitalized children. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.
- Haven, Kendall. Story Proof: The Science Behind the Startling Power of Story. Libraries Unlimited, 2007.
- Ingemark, C. A. (Ed.). (2013). Therapeutic uses of storytelling: An interdisciplinary approach to narration as therapy. Nordic Academic Press.