The Healing Power of Storytelling, Annie Brewster, MD
The Healing Power of Storytelling, Annie Brewster, MD
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The Healing Power of Storytelling
Using Personal Narrative to Navigate Illness, Trauma, and Loss

Author: Annie Brewster, MD, Rachel Zimmerman, Rushika Fernandopulle MD

Narrator: Annie Brewster, MD

Unabridged: 7 hr 17 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 04/30/2024

Synopsis

Reframe your story—and reclaim your life—through writing and storytelling in this “invaluable guide” (Danielle Ofri, MD, PHD, author of What Doctors Feel).

A Harvard-trained doctor draws on narrative therapy and her own multiple sclerosis diagnosis to offer chronic illness patients a way through anxiety, confusion, and trauma.

When Harvard-trained physician Dr. Annie Brewster was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis in 2001, she realized firsthand that the medical system to which she’d devoted her entire career was failing patients. The experience was dehumanizing. Her doctors weren’t listening. And the confusion, fear, and shame she felt around her diagnosis was preventing her from truly healing, claiming her story, and living her fullest, richest life.
 
Here, Dr. Brewster and journalist Rachel Zimmerman each share their own personal stories, acting as expert guides as you move forward on your healing journey. With exercises, reflections, writing prompts, and stories from other real patients, Dr. Brewster and Zimmerman show how you can:

• Process the difficult emotions that come with life-changing diagnosis
• Move beyond being the hero of your own story to become the author of your own story
• Craft your narrative and share it in whatever medium speaks to you
• Integrate a traumatic health event into a new and evolving identity
• Use applied storytelling techniques to strengthen connections with loved ones and care providers
• Cultivate resilience to move forward amid uncertainty and fear
 
The fact is, doctors can give you a life-changing diagnosis, but they’re not equipped to help you deal with the inner fallout: the confusion, anxiety, trauma, and dread that comes after “I have some bad news.” Dr. Brewster shows how writing your own unique healing story can help you process what comes next—to come to terms, create new ways to thrive, and even reclaim your personal power amid fear, change, and uncertainty.

About The Author

ANNIE BREWSTER, MD, is an Assistant Professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School and a practicing physician at Massachusetts General Hospital. She was diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis in 2001. She started recording patient narratives in 2010 and founded Health Story Collaborative (HSC) in 2013. Brewster lives in Cambridge, MA with her husband, four children, and two dogs. She loves to hike, run in the woods, ski, and play ice hockey. You can learn more at www.healthstorycollaborative.org and @HealthStoryCo. RACHEL ZIMMERMAN has been a journalist, writer, and editor for more than two decades, including as a staff writer for The Wall Street Journal, a health reporter for WBUR, and co-founder of the blog CommonHealth. She has been published in The New York Times, The Atlantic, Slate, and more. A Brooklyn native, Zimmerman lives in Cambridge, MA, with her family. Yoga and running keep her grounded. Reach her at https://www.rachelzimmerman.net/ or @zimmerman082. 

Reviews

Goodreads review by Richard on November 09, 2021

Under ordinary circumstances, it is only minutes after finishing a book that I find myself sitting at my desk eagerly typing away my review. There are, however, those times when a book demands more reflection and consideration. There are those times when I need to allow an author's words to wash ove......more

Goodreads review by Barbara on June 10, 2022

The author says: The truth is that anyone who has faced a health challenge or trauma, whether physical, emotional, or communal — large or small — has a story to tell. In other words, we all have a story. The process I am focused on here is all about weaving these challenging events into our life’s n......more

Goodreads review by Shannon on September 29, 2022

I am both a professional communicator and a trauma/loss/illness survivor (childhood abandonment, pregnancy loss, MS diagnosis). I share this lived experience to note that, prior to reading this book, I was already a firm believer in the power of storytelling to both connect and heal. With that said,......more

Goodreads review by Jason on March 06, 2022

This is one of the most memorable and productive reads I have had the pleasure of consuming over the last 12 months. The author is a physician who is diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis, and shares her story, then realizes how encouraging others to share their story, allows them to take ownership and......more

Goodreads review by Anne on November 21, 2021

This is a powerful, important, and relevant book for anyone who’s been through anything difficult, to help them tell their story, and WHY they need to tell their story. The chapters include a good mix of the author’s own story, current research, examples, and suggestions for our personal use. At the......more

Quotes

“In these pages, Dr. Annie Brewster quotes philosopher Daniel Dennett, who said 'words are potent elements of our environment,' and shows us the agency we have to shape our narratives—the stories we tell ourselves about ourselves—to bolster our sense of self and, above all, meaning. Through her own struggles, the stories of patients and participants in Healing Story Sessions, a dive into research on narrative identity, and a practical framework for storytelling, Dr. Brewster gives us an important guide for moving forward amidst struggle, using the power—the surprising, moving, mighty power—of words.”
—Lucy Kalanithi, MD, FACP, clinical associate professor of medicine, Stanford University, and widow of Dr. Paul Kalanithi, author of When Breath Becomes Air

“Annie Brewster’s new book is revelatory. With the authority that comes from being a patient and a doctor simultaneously, Brewster is able to excavate the deep power of storytelling. The stories and journeys she shares—her own and others’—are riveting. The Healing Power of Storytelling is an invaluable guide for patients, families, medical professionals, and all of us ordinary mortals grappling with life.”
—Danielle Ofri, MD, PHD, author of What Doctors Feel

“A beautifully written and compassionate work that highlights how deeply storytelling—by patients and doctors—helps recovery, health, and, ultimately, healing.”
—Siddhartha Mukherjee, author of The Emperor of All Maladies

“The Healing Power of Storytelling is a thoughtful self-help resource with guidance for finding meaning in the face of life-changing illnesses. Its work is profound and insightful, imparting genuine hope without false promises.”
—Foreword Reviews, starred review

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