Narrative as Medicine: When Telling a Story Changes the Body
Project Narrative is hosting a hybrid event with Joshua M. Smyth, Professor, Department of Psychology and Ohio Eminent Scholar in Health Psychology.
Narrative theory often views stories as interpretive structures that disclose latent meanings. Expressive writing research invites a complementary, more “biobehavioral” proposition: narrative can be instrumental. That is, a process of self-making that reorganizes emotion, attention, memory, and social connection in ways that measurably shape health. This talk explores the potential for a productive collision between narrative theory and mind–body science: the idea that narrative is not only a lens on experience but a lever that can transform it. Drawing on decades of clinic/laboratory-based expressive writing research and newer forms of guided online journaling, I will examine how narrative articulation (especially shifts in coherence, agency, and meaning) can meaningfully alter stress-related processes, well-being, and functioning.