The Value of Stories

In my practice, I often use metaphors and stories to illustrate a point. The image of an anchored ship in the ocean, slowly drifting yet somehow also secured in place, serves as a metaphor for a dialectic or mindfulness meditation. Parables about leaps of faith serve to inspire and validate.

This week, a client of mine mentioned a story that I had told several weeks ago. She had been thinking about it a lot, she said.

Part of the guesswork of therapy is often not knowing what interventions will be helpful, which ideas will stick. But I do find that stories are rather “sticky”. A good story has the ability to draw the listener in, make its point, and (if told well) lingers long enough to encourage change.

One of the more unusual trainings I have taken is on “therapeutic storytelling” (given by Karen Bernstein, a favorite professor of mine). I learned to harness my love of stories and storytelling and to incorporate them in the work I do.

Books and movies do a great job of telling stories. I often recommend specific story books or movies to my clients to validate their experiences and to help them concretize concepts. One client refers often to a particular scene in “Silver Linings Playbook” which helped him better understand his impulsivity.

In that vein, I wanted to recommend the new movie “Inside Out”, which I saw recently. Besides for being, to me, funny and appropriate for all ages, it validates our need to feel and experience all our feelings as they are. And for parents looking to find a springboard for talking with their kids about healthy expression of emotions, you can’t get better than this.

How do stories impact you? How do you use them, in your own life, or working with others?