![]() When it comes to illness, support groups have been proven to improve mental health, physical symptoms, and quality of life. Research on the mortality risk of loneliness suggests it is equivalent to smoking 15 cigarettes a day, and commensurate with other well-established health risk factors, such as inactivity, obesity, substance abuse, and mental illness. Research has consistently shown that relationships are good for us and social isolation is bad - clearly linked to earlier cognitive and physical decline and increased mortality. Storytelling is an inherently social practice, one that fosters intimacy and connection with others. Stories connect us as human beings and build bonds between us. When we witness someone else's vulnerability in a safe and supportive environment, we feel less alone, and often just plain better. Today, as we emerge from over a year of social isolation, I am focused on the benefits of sharing stories in community. Sharing them with others, though it makes us vulnerable, is an important part of this healing. Studies have shown that digging into our personal stories, reflecting on them, and editing them as our lives evolve, is good for us. In April of 2020, early in the pandemic, I wrote about how telling our stories can help us navigate and ultimately make sense of the trauma and loss associated with COVID-19.īuilding on research from the field of narrative psychology that supports the mental health benefits of narrative, I have dedicated much of the past decade to helping people heal through storytelling. Our life stories have shifted and will continue to shift in response to what we have experienced. One thing is certain: all of us have been changed by the pandemic, individually and collectively. It has been exhausting and heavy, tinged with constant uncertainty, fear, and loss, and I am so ready for it to end. As a doctor working on the front lines in a designated respiratory illness clinic, I have been submerged in all things COVID-19 for the past 15 months.
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