The Healing Power of Stories

Wendy Arena, MS, RN

Precision is something we tend to equate with numbers rather than words. However, precision isn’t limited to the domain of quantifiable data. Precision of language is equally meaningful. This is just one of the reasons why we need the humanities in health care. The Oxford Dictionary defines humanities as “the subjects of study that are about the way people think and behave, for example literature, language, history and philosophy.” The humanities help us to understand and communicate with the people with whom we work and for whom we care.

I’ve discovered that many of us who gravitate to the helping and healing professions often have personal reasons for wanting to make the world a better place. In some cases, it was because the environments we lived in as children were not safe or nurturing. This was my situation, and I’ve talked to many nurses and nursing students who have shared similar stories. Fortunately, I learned to read before I began school. Literature became my window into other worlds and ways of life. Through stories I learned about other people, places, and times. I learned about the natural world and our connection to its inhabitants. It was through the humanities that I learned that life was full of possibilities.

As alluded to above, the humanities seek to explain how people think and behave. In many cases, this is through the use of stories. To tell a story is to create meaning from circumstances that may otherwise seem senseless. We communicate through stories. They provide a foundation for our culture and our personal and collective histories. Stories are how we create our truth. It isn’t just the creation of the story that has such power, but also the sharing. Stories are how we connect and relate to one another. Humans are the only species (of which we are aware) that has evolved to the level of being able to read, write, and speak. These are powerful tools when wielded skillfully and intentionally.

Creating the emotional space and trust required for a person to share their story is a fundamental, but often underutilized, skill. Allowing a person the time and space to tell their story has become a luxury in our time-pressured modern health system. It requires being fully present and listening to what is said as well as what is not said. Our patients are telling us stories all the time if we are willing to listen with our full attention.

I work in and teach mental health nursing, which is focused more on forming relationships with patients and less on performing tasks. The main focus of mental health nursing for undergraduate students is building therapeutic communication skills. Interviewing a patient is basically eliciting a person’s story in their own words. The most important communication skill is also the most challenging: listening.

Many nursing students dread their mental health rotation. There is still a stigma when it comes to mental health. In addition, many student nurses are accustomed to “doing for” rather than “being with” our patients. Students inevitably ask what they will be doing while they are on the mental health unit. Patients don’t usually look ill, after all. The majority of people are up and walking around. Most of them don’t even appear mentally ill. Not to the untrained eye, anyway. On the inpatient mental health unit, people are admitted in crisis. Many are suicidal. Many have substance use disorders. Some are homeless. Students tend to panic the first few days as they struggle to interact, terrified of saying the “wrong thing.”

Initially, students watch me interview patients. They comment on how open people are in talking about their struggles. We talk about the sense of relief and validation that comes with feeling seen and heard; with having one’s humanity validated rather than judged. Eventually, students do the interviews under my supervision. I can see the transformation taking place as I read their reflection journals over the weeks that they are with me. They use words like “fascinating,” “eye-opening,” and “misconception.” My exams can’t capture this change in attitude, but their writing clearly does.

As nurses, we are trusted with the most intimate details of people’s lives. We witness individuals and families at their most vulnerable. Within the sorrow, fear, and suffering, however, there are also glimpses of profound joy. Being a nurse means carrying around the stories of the people whose lives we’ve been privileged to touch over the years. Some of the stories are heartbreaking. Without attending to our emotions, the heart eventually reaches a point where it can no longer break into smaller pieces. It either calcifies into an impenetrable fortress or it liquefies into a pool of pure emotion. Neither is conducive to proficient nursing care.

Between these extremes is the balance where tenderness and compassion can be found. While some might say that being tender-hearted is a liability, I would argue that it gives us the capacity for empathy. It is through this tenderness that we can access the humanity that inspires stories, poetry, and art.

Despite all of the advances in science and technology, there are limits to what can be explained empirically. Despite our best attempts, we always reach the edge of certainty and truth. The humanities fill in the gaps that empiricism cannot. The humanities allow us to navigate uncertainty with a sense of grace and creativity. They add color to an otherwise black-andwhite world.

Most of the students I teach will not go into mental health nursing, but I remind them that if they are caring for humans then they will be using the skills they have learned in my course. Humanities, like mental health, is a field of study that helps us to understand how people think and behave. Through learning and understanding human behavior, we acquire the ability to relate to and communicate with one another. This is fundamental to every aspect of health care. +

Wendy Arena, MS, RN; Nursing Instructor at Fitchburg State University and PhD Nursing student at Tan Chingfen Graduate School of Nursing, UMass Chan Medical School.