Psychological Impact of Fairy Tales on the Mind of Children

The Jungian interpretation, developed by psychotherapist Carl Jung, is a symbolic approach that creates a dialectical relationship between consciousness and the unconscious. Those who use the Jungian interpretation do not perceive therapy as a typical client therapist relationship wherein the client is treated, but rather perceive themselves as guides to help another person delve into the unconscious. Jungian therapy, also called analytical psychotherapy, treats essentially all unconscious sources such as dreams, fantasies, daydreams, even paintings and drawings. One of the central reasons that fairy tales are important is that they aid in child development. Fairy tales are often shaped to test children’s initiative. Not only is reading the story essential, but having the child act out the story is also just as important for developing a child’s consciousness and for his or her moral development. L.I. El’koninova was interested in children’s mental development and the types of behavior they displayed when acting out a fairy tale. The experimental results from this study in Moscow drew the conclusion that a vivid enactment of an integral story plot becomes possible when a child not only intuitively understands that what happens in make-believe stories is in fact make-believe, but also believes in the reality of the story. It was found that younger children (ages 3-4) cannot play out the part of a story completely because for them it is too real; nor are 6–7-year-olds able to do this because for them the story is too make-believe. Therefore, an integral and vivid enactment of a story occurs at about the age of five, because at this age children are best able to establish a balance between their experience of the reality of the story and their experience of the make-believe quality of what takes place in the story and the performance when it is acted out. In make-believe performances the child acquires the experience of being a subject (becoming something or someone else), which comes to him or her as an internal picture of an initiative-taking action. A child develops initiative through overcoming behavioral stereotypes and through restraining impulsive actions. Although it was concluded that children are able to test out initiative extensively at about the age of five, this does not mean that fairy tales are not important before this age. In fact, the vocabulary characteristics of the semantics of a fairy tale begin to be part of a child’s play performance at around age four (El’koninova 85- 86). These findings are important, because it provides crucial information about developing children and how fairy tales are a valid part of learning, especially because there is a specific age in which children can differentiate reality versus make-believe. Fairy tales not only aid in child development, but they also offer a rich source of material to draw from in a therapeutic manner. This provides a great way of accessing children’s imagination by exploring memories of fairy tales and using them to address painful or unsettling issues in a nonthreatening, playful manner. For instance, the struggle between good and evil is a frequent theme among fairy tales

people may suffer from internal conflict whether it is from bullying, teasing, problems at home, etc. Analyzing fairy tales where internal conflict is a major theme can help the therapist determine ways to help his or her client. For example, victims of abuse or neglect experience the triumph of evil over good; this is usually the other way round when it comes to fairy tales. Enabling a young person to identify with a fairy tale or allowing them to make up their own version could be a useful means of unlocking feelings of mistrust or guilt. This can be better appreciated through the analysis of a project titled “A Fairy Tale Workshop in a Pediatric Oncology Ward.” This workshop is part of a more complex intervention at a Pediatric Oncology and Hematology Ward in Naples, Italy, which provides treatment for children suffering from cerebral neoplasia. An ill child is often unable to express his or her anxieties and ask for explanations about the situation that he or she is experiencing.

In a study, children were offered the opportunity to get in touch safely with danger and death anxieties through the use of tale-telling. For example, The Three Little Pigs provides children a way of exploring the solidity and resistance of the intrapsychic container; the child’s own internal house. In this story each pig builds a house; one made of straw, one made of sticks, and the third made of bricks. The house resembles the child’s own body and the big bad wolf resembles the sickness. The ill children experience little control, if any over their body due to their illness and this story helps them face their fears and explore their anxieties. In the story, the houses made of straw and sticks are too weak to defeat the wolf. This is similar to what the children are feeling within their own bodies; therefore they can relate their own experience to the story. It is important to note that each child identifies with different characters, according to the anxieties that he or she is coping with and his or her defensive strategies. For instance, after listening to Little Red Riding Hood, Giacomo, who is three years old, imitates the wolf and draws it with its mouth wide-open. The identification with the bad wolf in the story enables the child to express his aggression towards a situation, which he fears may overwhelm him. In contrast, Marco, who is seven years old, reacts to the same fairy tale in a different way. He draws a wolf which is the size of an ant, showing in this way his attempt to deny the seriousness of his condition. In these examples, the children have read the same fairy tale, but their reactions are quite different. The Ugly Duckling, Vittorio (10 years old) makes several attempts to draw a head. He never seems satisfied with the result and keeps on rubbing it out. The sense of dissatisfaction and rejection of the drawing may have a wide range of readings, such as Vittorio’s difficulty in accepting his own body following the transformations caused by the illness. In The Ugly Duckling, the duckling is different from the others and no one wants to be around him, because they think he is ugly. The duckling feels helpless and unhappy. But when he looks at his reflection in the pond he finds that he is beautiful. Vittorio’s continuous rubbing out of the drawing seems to express his wish to make his ill head magically disappear, and to substitute it with a new undamaged one. The Ugly Duckling is a story about accepting oneself. As children endure the illness that is taking control of their body, stories like this can help them find acceptance within themselves; just like the duckling did. Another boy named Alfredo also seems to be expressing similar anxieties about the deterioration of his body when, while doing a drawing related to the fairy tale Puss in Boots, he tries to rip up the sheet of paper and writes in one corner “throw away in the rubbish”. The behaviors of these children show that they can utilize a fairy tale in order to express his or her anxieties, fears and defenses based on their own experiences. A third example of a fairy tale, which children can identify with, is Snow White and the Seven Dwarves. After reading the story the children seem alarmed by the character of the stepmother who carries out attacks on Snow White. None of the children draw the stepmother but instead depict both Snow White and the castle in which she lives. For the children, the stepmother might reflect their illness or perhaps the face of a particular doctor, nurse or even their parents who “torment” the children’s bodies by putting them through painful treatments. The fairy tales used in this workshop allow children to express their feelings of aggression towards their illness, their parents, and/or the medical staff, without fear of retaliation. At times, the need to rebel against the constrictions imposed by the illness and by hospital regulations drives the children to identify with characters who are bad or undisciplined. It is critical that children are able to release the anxieties and fears that come with illnesses. Even when the child identifies with the negative characters in the fairy tale, the child can learn to cope with threats, conflicts and their anxieties linked to the illness, and this has a positive impact on their quality of life. In contrast, some people may think of fairy tales as being dangerous for children and young persons. For example, psychotherapist Susan Darker-Smith's research showed that girls who hear fairy tale classics such as Cinderella and Beauty and the Beast when they are children are more likely to stay in destructive relationships as adults. Many young children who grow up in homes where they are read fairy tales often identify with the book characters as role models. Opponents say that these characters provide them with a template for future submissive behavior. Darker-Smith interviewed domestic violence victims in Leicester, UK who repeatedly told her that they believe “if their love is strong enough they can change their partner's behavior” and many of them also identify with the characters in the stories. Thus, opponents could argue that victims of abuse who identify with fairy tales such as Cinderella or Beauty and the Beast are at risk for staying with an abusive partner if they believe that their love can change their partner’s abusive behavior. Some opponents, such as Patsky Skeen et al., might also argue that Cinderella gives children and young people a negative connotation about stepfamilies. The stepmother and stepsisters who give Cinderella the dreadful household tasks and even try to prevent her from receiving the attention of a young prince are portrayed as evil, wicked, and coldhearted. Skeen argues that Cinderella adversely affects popular views about stepfamilies. The relationships portrayed in this fairy tale misrepresent the kinds of relationships that exist among many stepfamilies today. Stepfamily relationships are different from primary family relationships, but the chances for success are not as grim as they were in Cinderella. The nature of the stepfamily network is different from the unbroken family network and the transition from an unbroken family to a stepfamily is not an easy one, however, it is possible for most blended families to manage their lives with reasonable success. Although, the Cinderella fairy tale might cause children to misunderstand stepfamilies, this misinterpretation can be reduced with good communication and good role modeling. For example, if a young child has a new stepmom and/or stepsiblings and they have recently heard or read the story of Cinderella, they might perceive their stepfamily as being evil. Thus, it is important to be in tune with what books they are reading and the life situations they are experiencing, especially with younger children because they are especially susceptible to believing what they read or hear. It child about their readings. Although opponents argue that fairy tales may be dangerous in terms of their underlying messages, the overall impact that fairy tales have on children’s lives does more good than harm. A positive of fairy tales is they can help with disorders that most people wouldn’t think are treatable by “reading a book,” but in fact have positive effects. For instance, at the age of puberty, a young girl’s confidence plummets and eating disorders often develop around this time. Eating disorders are developmental dysfunctions that occur when one's self is abandoned. People suffering from an eating disorder will become obsessed with what they eat, how much they eat, and focus their thoughts to one area: food. A study was done to show that fairy tales offer possible solutions for young people struggling with transitional problems and anxieties by allowing the eating-disordered client to project his or her desired identity onto the fairy tale and draw self-control from the process. Often what the clients cannot say about themselves, they can instead verbalize about fairy tale characters; in other words favorite fairy tales can function as mirrors of ourselves. In this study, one eatingdisordered client stated that Cinderella was her favorite fairy tale because Cinderella overcame her social status.

The fairy tale therefore becomes a substitute object of transference in which the clients can transfer their anger and fears onto the fairy tale rather than another person or loved one. Facing these conflicts with the use of the fairy tale will help the clients with their own problem resolution because in the process of helping the fairy tale character out of the conflict in the story, clients are also creating a method to rescue themselves. Thus, if connection is firmly established between the client and the fairy tale, the fairy tale figure (such as Cinderella) becomes a powerful tool for the counselor to use as a motivational force. To put it briefly, the client can learn to identify and adopt resolutions to problems such as eating disorders with the use of fairy tales.

Adamo, Simonetta M. G.Serpieri, Serenella AdamoDe Falco, RaffaellaDi Cicco, TeresaFoggia, RaffaellaGiacometti, PatriziaSiani, Gerarda (2015). “Tom Thumb in Hospital: The Fairy Tale Workshop in a Paediatric Oncology and Haematology Ward.” Psychodynamic Practice 14.3: pp.

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Research Scholar, MVGU, Jaipur