How Fiction Helps Us Heal: An Internal Family Systems Lens

I remember asking a bibliotherapy client of mine when she discovered her love of reading. Her answer was as soon as she was old enough to realize that books are the only place she could fully express and experience her emotions. I know many of us can relate to the way books help us understand our various parts: shadow self, inner child, inner critic included, just to name a few!

Internal Family Systems was developed by Richard C. Schwartz in the 1980s and provided a way for therapy clients to understand the many personalities that exist in the mind, what Schwartz calls “parts”.

Literature allows us to connect to the stories of others which ultimately leads us to reconnect to all of the parts of ourselves. In this way, reading helps us to connect to our various parts- most especially parts often denied. When reading books, especially as part of our healing practice, we can openly discuss what part of us feels fearful, judgmental, all of the undesirable emotions that can be hard to openly own or to have another person witness.

We can talk about our most vulnerable parts when it’s in relation or opposition to a fictional character in a way that’s hard to acknowledge when sharing in vulnerability directly about ourselves. Think about a polarizing character like Edie, from Luster by Raven Leilani, for instance. She is a character who activates a lot of our parts. Love her or hate her, characters like her hold up a powerful mirror to us and teach us about our own values, compulsions, and limitations alike!

If you want to learn more about the modality of IFS and parts work, check out No Bad Parts by Richard Schwartz. It’s an accessible overview that will answer all your basic questions. If you want to learn more about how fiction helps us vicariously process our emotional experiences, you should read The Storytelling Animal by Jonathan Gottschall. Happy Reading!

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