Elena Muradyan “The fairy tale still lives in the hearts of the elders”

Our interlocutor Psychologist Elena Muradyan is convinced that the fairy tale continues to live inside the elderly, and she builds her professional work on this belief by using fairytale therapy not only in psychological, and psychotherapeutic work with children, but also with other adults.

Sometimes older people are more childish than children themselves Through the fairy-tale, the elder and the little ones are able to understand each other. This is a wonderful thing. The fairy tale can unite adults and little ones, make them smile, instill goodness and optimism. So it’s not surprising that fairy tales help overcome a number of inner problems – fear, sadness, anxiety, – this is how represents the storyline methodology of Fairytale Therapy to WomenNet, Senior Researcher at the Faculty of Philosophy and Psychology of the YSU Yelena Muradyan, who collaborates with “Growth” Personal and Business Development Center at the same time. According to her, fairy-tale therapy as a practical psychology direction was introduced in Armenia n the beginning of 2000 by Gayane Ghazaryan –  a psychologist, associate professor of the Department of Medical Psychology of Yerevan State Medical University.

Elena Muradyan, in collaboration with the “Growth” Personal and Business Development Center, improves that idea by conducting therapeutic, adult training courses for adults. She is convinced that fairy-tale therapy is a very effective method for people with psychological stress as with the help of the tale it is possible to disclose the secret fears and aspirations of any person and find solutions to problems that are troubling him.

It is known that the folk tales have a beneficial effect on a person’s mental state, educates a person, promotes his spiritual development, corrects some aspects of behavior, develops thinking, memory, imagination, helps to get rid of tension, fatigue, and irritability. Thanks to fairy tales, the child not only gains new knowledge. He tries to resemble the hero of his beloved fairy tale, experiencing his sadness and joy, as he appears in problems and looking for ways out of them. Thanks to this, in his real life he begins to feel more protected and self-confident using the tricks of a positive hero in dealing with his problems. All this has long been used in working with children. The new word here is that there is no age limit for fairy tale-therapy.

According to her, the beneficial effect of fairy tales is evident, especially as a result of the work carried out among elderly people. Unlike the child, for whom the tale is educational, it is a means of reality assessment for an elderly person from the perspective of his accumulated experience.

– A person, regardless of his past and way of life, even in case of  the material or the relationships with his neighbors, changes his attitudes towards these issues, he observes and accepts the reality more calmly, his worldview changes to the reality”, – says Elena Muradyan.

Full text in Armenian