Literature, mental health and gender politics. Why we must remember that "She Wrote Too" with Nicola Morgan

The Business of Psychology

Literature, mental health and gender politics. Why we must remember that "She Wrote Too" with Nicola Morgan

Welcome to the Business of Psychology podcast. I'm joined by Nicola Morgan, who some of you may know as the co-host of the fantastic She Wrote Too podcast and Substack. As well as a podcaster, Nicola is a positive psychologist, champion of women's writers, bibliotherapist, creativity specialist, tutor and mentor. She's properly multi hyphen, having been a former lawyer and teacher in past lives. She now uses that wealth of experience and passion to help others thrive through story and psychology.

Full show notes and a transcript of this episode are available at The Business of Psychology

Links for Nicola:

She Wrote Too Podcast:

Apple Podcasts

Spotify

She Wrote Too Substack

Links for Rosie:

Substack: substack.com/@drrosie

Rosie on Instagram:

@rosiegilderthorp

@thepregnancypsychologist

Reading list from Nicola, to support the topics discussed:

Positive Psychology & Purpose

• Seligman, M. E. P. (2011). Flourish: A Visionary New Understanding of Happiness and Well-being. - Introduces the PERMA model: Positive Emotion, Engagement, Relationships, Meaning, Accomplishment.
• Ryan, R. M., & Deci, E. L. (2000). "Self-determination theory and the facilitation of intrinsic motivation, social development, and well-being." American Psychologist, 55(1), 68–78. - Central to understanding motivation in values-led work.
• Wong, P. T. P. (2011). "Positive psychology 2.0: Towards a balanced interactive model of the good life." Canadian Psychology/Psychologie Canadienne, 52(2), 69–81. - Explores how suffering and meaning-making are integral to authentic well-being.

Narrative Psychology & Meaning

• McAdams, D. P. (1993). The Stories We Live By: Personal Myths and the Making of the Self. - Key text on how humans construct identity and meaning through narrative.
• Neimeyer, R. A. (2006). "Rewriting the self: History, memory, narrative." In Meaning Reconstruction and the Experience of Loss. - Relevant to your interest in grief, healing, and story.

Bibliotherapy & Reading for Well-being

• Brewster, L. (2011). Health & Place, 17(2), 361–368. "The public library as therapeutic landscape: A qualitative case study." - Explores the healing power of books and libraries.
• Billington, J. (2016). Reading and Mental Health: Bibliotherapy Revisited. Palgrave Macmillan. -Central to bibliotherapy research and your work with She Wrote Too and Learn to Thrive.
• Montgomery, H., & Martin, B. (2015). "Literature and empathy: A study of bibliotherapy and reading groups." Medical Humanities, 41(2), 100–104.

How shared reading helps foster empathy and insight.

• Kidd, D.C. & Castano, E. (2013). Reading Literary Fiction Improves Theory of Mind. Science, 342(6156), 377–380.
• Miall, D.S. & Kuiken, D. (2002). A feeling for fiction: Becoming what we behold. Poetics, 30(4), 221–241.
• Pennebaker, J.W. & Seagal, J.D. (1999). Forming a story: The health benefits of narrative. Journal of Clinical Psychology, 55(10), 1243–1254.
• Montgomery, D. & Maunder, R. (2015). Bibliotherapy: The Girl on the Train and other ways to self-soothe. BMJ, 351:h4465.

Legacy and Culture:

• Jerome Bruner (1991): “We become the stories we tell ourselves.” This is at the heart of narrative identity.
• Dan McAdams (2001): Legacy and meaning-making are central in his theory of narrative identity, particularly in generativity scripts.
• Narrative therapy (Michael White & David Epston): Talks about re-authoring our lives to align with values and meaning.
• Viktor Frankl (1985): Man’s Search for Meaning ties story to purpose, survival, and legacy.

The highlights

• I introduce Nicola and she says a bit about what brought her to this focus in her career with She Wrote Too 00:00
• I ask Nicola who are her favourite women authors who have been forgotten about, and we discuss the struggles women authors and scholars faced 06:42
• We look at how the past impacts societal expectations on women’s self-perception 8:29
• Nicola talks about the stories she found really powerful for talking about this narrative of determination and resilience 14:19
• Nicola discusses why she thinks some of these historical women authors were written out and sabotaged 17:34
• I ask Nicola if she thinks that the hard work is paying off and we are starting to see more parity in whose voices get published? 25:03
• Nicola explains what bibliotherapy is, and its relationship to ACT 29:45
• We discuss the importance of story 38:12
• I ask Nicola about her book and the kickstarter for it 43:07

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