The Healing Power of Storytelling: Using Personal Narrative to Navigate Illness, Trauma, and Loss by Annie Brewster, MD, and Rachel Zimmerman
Annie Brewster, MD ’99, was less than two years out of medical school when her life changed. Not only did she discover she had multiple sclerosis, but she realized through this early experience as a patient that the medical system she’d dedicated her career to was in some ways failing those it meant to serve.
Now an HMS assistant professor of medicine, part-time, at Massachusetts General Hospital and founder and executive director of the Health Story Collaborative, Brewster has become a fierce advocate for using narrative to overcome the confusion, fear, and shame that can follow a diagnosis; help patients integrate their diagnosis into their identity and regain a sense of control; strengthen patient-physician relationships; and ease the passage to healing and thriving.
Brewster shares insights gained from research and personal experience in The Healing Power of Storytelling: Using Personal Narrative to Navigate Illness, Trauma, and Loss, written with health reporter Rachel Zimmerman.
In this episode of The Written Word, Harvard Medicine magazine talks with Brewster about the genesis of the book and what storytelling can offer to patients and clinicians alike.
Download the transcript (PDF)
Author reading
In this excerpt from the book, Brewster recalls how she confronted a void of authentic patient stories after she received her diagnosis — and how she has worked diligently since then to ensure that others don’t suffer from a similar lack.
Download the transcript (PDF).
From The Healing Power of Storytelling: Using Personal Narrative to Navigate Illness, Trauma, and Loss by Annie Brewster with Rachel Zimmerman, published by North Atlantic Books, copyright 2022. Reprinted with permission of the publisher.
Bonus clip
Hear about live storytelling events that feature clinicians and patients:
Download the transcript (PDF).