MARIANNE TAYLOR

How a good story well told has the power to heal

WHILE on the train from Glasgow to Edinburgh the other week, my fellow passengers included a woman in her sixties and her young granddaughter, aged around five. Initially the wee girl was playing with a tablet, but when the wi-fi became variable she soon got bored. “Tell me a story about the old days, granny,” I heard her say. Granny was happy to oblige, and the remainder of the journey was passed with often hilariously juxtaposed tales covering topics as diverse as the 1978 winter of discontent, family holidays in Rothesay in the 1950s and the first time granny ever tasted hummus. The youngster listened in rapture and asked a number of eminently sensible questions along the way. When granny mentioned there was no internet in the olden days, the wee girl’s eyes widened and her jaw dropped visibly. Her mind had been totally blown.

What a delight it was to eavesdrop on this most lovely of cross-generational interactions. It was moving, too, reminding me of similar moments with my own grandmother. But it also made me think about the underrated pleasure and power the ancient art of storytelling has to keep events alive, strengthen bonds between generations and keep spirits up during difficult times.

And according to new medical research stories aren’t just a fun pastime for children – they have an extraordinary capacity to improve our health throughout our lives. The medical profession – former Storytelling Laureate Katrice Horsely explained this week ahead of a story festival in Glasgow – is increasingly turning to stories as a form of medicine. Not only do they make you feel good, apparently, they also help build and rewire the brain.

The research shows that when you hear a long narrative or read a book, you follow the physical actions of the characters, such as running or being involved in a battle, and also their emotions. Your brain responds as if you are the character, and this is incredibly good exercise – both mentally and physically – especially for those experiencing trauma.

With this in mind, the moving letter written by Chrissy Hart, mother of a little girl who recently died of cancer, to JK Rowling, telling how much the author’s Harry Potter books had helped the family in the final weeks of her daughter’s life, can perhaps be seen in a whole new light.

‘‘ We should be looking for ways to incorporate this cheapest of therapies into treatment plans for a whole range of conditions

Mrs Hart said the stories “built a castle” for her daughter when the prognosis got worse, when she was afraid and in pain. “Cancer threatened to take everything from my daughter,” she wrote. “Your books turned out to be the fortress we so desperately needed to hide in.” Rowling’s stories significantly eased both the child’s path from life to death, and the emotional trauma of her parents; you won’t find a stronger testimonial for the power of storytelling than that.

So, if storytelling really does help our brains to recover from stress and trauma, perhaps we should be looking for ways to incorporate this cheapest of therapies into treatment plans for a whole range of conditions, from cancer and chronic pain to spinal injuries, post-traumatic stress disorder and more common mental illnesses such as anxiety and depression.

Only last week we learned that teenagers in Scotland are apparently among the most stressed out in the world, with an astounding 80 per cent of 15-year-old girls saying they felt real pressure from schoolwork. One can only surmise that the media-perpetuated obsession they have with body image and the corrosive, addictive non-stop interaction with social media doesn’t help. According to the study not quite so many boys were as stressed, but 60 per cent is still very high. The thought that the majority of our young people are feeling so stressed should be concerning us all, especially since damaging emotional patterns learned in adolescence can be difficult to break in later life. The costs of this are high, both emotionally and for the NHS.

Perhaps teachers, parents, grandparents, aunties and uncles and older siblings need to think about how we can incorporate storytelling into the mix. It won’t be easy, of course, but prising the digital devices away from teenage hands for at least a couple of hours a day would be key to bringing about the old-fashioned human interaction required.

It doesn’t have to be reading Harry Potter together, of course – it can be as simple as talking through shared experiences. Sensitive adolescent tempers will respond better to this type of approach and if it helps them build and strengthen brain power at the same time, and create resilience for the future, then all the better.

Most of us love a good story, however old we are. Now, with the healing power of storytelling confirmed, there’s only one thing for it – let’s get out there and spin some yarns.