“As humans, when we’re experiencing struggles, we’re subconsciously looking for a story that we can connect with, in order to feel less alone”
When Janina Scarlet first moved to the United States from her native Ukraine at the age of 12 with her family, she couldn’t speak a word of English and had no friends. Worse, she had been exposed to radiation from the Chernobyl nuclear disaster, s till suffered from excruciating migraines and her classmates thought she was contagious.
‘I was the strange kid from another country. I was picked on, lonely and had no one with whom I could identify. Then I went to the cinema to see the first X-Men movie. That’s when I really understood the true power of story. The characters had also been exposed to radiation. They too had been bullied and ostracised; they had been put in danger and yet they used their story and their deep pain to become superheroes and help other people. It occurred to me that I could use my story to help others, too – and that’s what inspired me to study psychology.’