THEempathize with superheroes and fictional characters: a prerogative of children which can also, surprisingly, become one valuable resource for adults. To suggest it is the Super hero therapypsychotherapeutic approach based precisely on possibility of overcoming discomfort, by relating one’s personal experience with the story of fictional characterswhether they are superheroes, movie stars or popular culture characters.
This original approach was developed by the clinical psychologist Janina Scarlet. originally from Ukraine, survived the Chernobyl disaster when she was little, Scarlet moved to the United States at the age of 12, experiencing firsthand the serious psychological and physical consequences of that tragic event, until the encounter with the world of Marvel comics superheroes changes his perspective. Still very young, Janina Scarlet indeed discovers the X-Menthe mutants endowed with extraordinary abilities for a genetic mutation caused by a radiationand thanks to identification with them, he manages to overcome what he is facing. Thus, after becoming a psychologist, Scarlet decides to put her experience and her love for comic book characters at the service of her patients, signing the manual in 2017 Superhero Therapy – A hero journey through Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (published in Italy by Giovanni Fioriti Editore), a self-help guide – obviously illustrated by a cartoonist, Wellinton Alves – designed to help all heroes who are struggling with anxiety, depression or trauma.
«It’s not a real approach, in the sense of a set of new techniques – he explains to us Martina Migliore, cognitive-behavioral psychotherapist Of serenisas well as Superhero Therapy expert – it is rather about applying to tools, methods and techniques coming from evidence-based therapies, elements from filmography, comics, manga, not only from the superhero genre from which it was born».
At the basis of the belief according to which transfer one’s problems to external storiesmay help patients to open up but also to findthrough the identification with different characters, resilience resources and unexpected processing capacity…
«Janina Scarlet started from her personal experience, therefore fromtrauma processing – emphasizes the psychotherapist. -She herself always talks about the moment she met the X-men and found an answer and an inspiration to face what she was experiencing. For this reason, Scarlet then tried to use the figures of those heroes as well as others, to inspire people, to help them identify what she calls one’s ‘origin story’. The moment when the life of the hero, and therefore of the person in general, meets a crossroads, due to an event that changes the course of history/life forever. It is important to emphasize that traumas are not necessarily the big dramatic events that we all imagine. Indeed, Superhero Therapy can be used effectively in many situations (stress, anxiety) because the trauma is subjective: we all have to feel authorized to suffer even if there is no validation of our own pain in the eyes of others».
The superhero who becomes an archetype
The superhero or more generally, the fictional character, therefore plays a fundamental role in the psychotherapy process.
“It’s about a sort of archetypea figure that since mythology is used to inspire people – underlines the psychotherapist Martina Migliore. – Indeed, it can learn to face one’s own vulnerabilities through identification in stories that have a common matrix and development: the encounter with the difficulty, the desperation and then the moment in which one comes to find the resources and goes back to one’s life, changed. The superhero is therefore the archetype of one’s own personal inner journey».
A journey that leads, in fact, discover your own super powerof its resilience capacity.
Not just superheroes
«We can resort to the classic superheroes who, especially today, are very humanized – explains Martina Migliore. – To give a simple example, let’s think about the movie Iron Man 3in which the superhero has a panic attack and in this sense his experience normalizes the experience of many. But in general it can be referred to other characters, apparently very far from us but that in a particular film or book, they are experiencing what we are experiencing. The actions and resolutions of those characters become the cue to find, with the help of your mentorwhich in the session is the psychotherapistown internal resources. The choice of the character to be inspired by naturally starts from the investigation of the patient’s passions. The starting question is often “Can you think of a character who has gone through something similar to what you are experiencing?”»
Not just for kids
As it is easy to imagine, the Super hero therapy works great with children and teenagers, on which superheroes have always exercised a particular fascination, a fascination that can also have positive effects. One study of 2016 conducted by Rachel White of Hamilton College and Stephanie Carlson of the University of Michigan, titled “The Batman Effect”showed, for example, how i children were better able to persevere in difficult tasks when they imagined as their favorite character.
But be careful: don’t fall into the mistake of considering Superhero Therapy a resource only for the youngest.
«Being able to detach from one’s daily life is actually good for everyone – concludes the psychotherapist. – The problem is that we adults too often think that if life isn’t boring, we aren’t really responsible and serious, when there’s nothing more false. If, even with adults, you can find a character cut out of their lifeyou can always take advantage of the Superhero Therapy with excellent results».
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Source: Vanity Fair
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