This is Hidden Brain, I'm Shankar Vedanta.

Greek mythology is filled with stories of violence, anger, and hatred.

Take the tale of the goddess Medea.

To distract her father as she fled with her lover,

Medea killed her brother, cut up his body, and scattered the pieces behind her.

Then there's the god Chronos, who devoured five of his children at birth

to ward off a prophecy that one of them would eventually overthrow him.

For a land blessed with exceptional sunshine and good wine,

Greece's home to a striking number of tales about incest, brutality, and bloodthirsty revenge.

Thousands of years ago, the Greek philosopher Aristotle had a theory of why this was.

In poetics, he suggested that the goal of art was something he called catharsis.

Writing, watching, and reenacting tragedy was good for the soul.

It was a form of healing.

The idea that stories can be a form of therapy has carried over into modern times.

Sigmund Freud explored the idea.

Psychoanalysis involves understanding the self as a series of stories.

After Freud fell out of favor, researchers and counselors have continued to explore the role

that stories play in our mental well-being.

This week on Hidden Brain, how understanding the stories of our lives and rewriting them can change us forever.

A quick heads up.

Today's episode touches on trauma and how we cope with it.

There are references to suicide and revenge.

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