Literature as a tool supporting resilience in crisis situations

Abstract

The article presents the results of research on selected literary texts as a tool supporting the health and mental toughness of readers in adolescence. The research was conducted among young people aged 13–14 during the implementation of reading workshops in the Małopolska Garden of Arts in Krakow in 2021 as part of the author’s project ‘Wandering towards adulthood. Literature supporting youth mental health.’ The aim of the meetings was to build teenagers’ resilience, adaptation to change and ability to regain lost or weakened strength with the use of appropriately selected reading material. References to the plot led young people to self‑knowledge, which is an indispensable factor in personal and social development. Therapeutic value turned out to be especially in those texts that showed the nature of interpersonal relationships and presented internal human conflicts, thus becoming a base/mirror for one’s own experiences.