Read Well: Healing through Stories

According to Bijal Shah, a bibliotherapist, counsellor and author, in her book The Healing Power of Reading, bibliotherapy can be defined as: An art therapy that leverages the power of stories to heal. Its magic lies in the relationship formed between the reader and the writing, fiction or non-fiction, poetry or essay, and the reflection of the thoughts, feelings, observations and lessons that the writing provokes, through a daily journaling practice (‘literary journaling’) or counselling.

My earliest experience of the healing power of words, after my mental health breakdown, was through journaling and writing poems to process my feelings. Reading self-help and pop psychology books was also something I repeatedly did to feel motivated again; it was a guiding pull to productivity and general betterment. Reading narratives came later, and it was lovely and different; it took my hand, held it and just ached, celebrated and journeyed with me.

A recent read, one we featured in Read Well, was The Sound of SCH by Danielle Lim; I remember the first time reading it in two sittings. The second one had me standing outside the MRT station, in a corner, huddled and hooked on the book, needing urgently to finish it. Even the second read, which I needed to do in preparation for the book club, where I had imagined it to be a light and quick read, was no less impactful, and there were finer details I came to see, one which I missed reading it the first time. Again, I was finishing it on Friday evening, I was alone by now, staying a half an hour at work after the end of the workday, and I was crying cathartically. The schizophrenia breakdown I experienced first happened almost 20 years ago, but the feelings I had reading the book were bittersweet, nostalgic, grateful, and surreally sacred.

Discussion in a book club circle about mental health experiences, recovery, and the book at hand adds layers of resonance, relatability, a shared human experience, and feelings of being understood. Our book club tends to be smaller in attendees, seeming to attract ‘chosen’ people who have been personally touched by mental health challenges. The books we chose have a pattern; they do not shy away from honest, painful, awkward, messy, truthful stories. They do not follow a template of a hero’s journey, with an upward arc of linear growth.

Reading and discussing these stories, I feel blessed; the authors have shared their heartfelt stories, in all thoughtful tenderness, beautiful brokenness, freeing fragility, and earnest wisdom, for us to learn and heal with.

Sumaiyah Mohamed,co-facilitator of Read Well, Senior Programme Coordinator, Our HEALing Voice, Club HEAL