Woman who survived nuclear disaster turned her Chernobyl experience into 'superhero therapy'

Abby Haglage

It’s been 33 years since the deadly accident at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant in Pripyat, Ukraine, but for the thousands who survived, the wounds are still fresh.

Janina Scarlet, who was just three years old when the explosion occurred, spent the years afterwards in and out of hospitals receiving treatment for exposure to high levels of radiation. But after gaining asylum to the U.S. years later, Scarlet was diagnosed with PTSD, inspiring her to pursue a PhD in psychology.

As a non-native English speaker, Scarlet faced bullying in America at first and felt alone in her trauma. But after seeing the movie X-Men, she had an epiphany. “Being persecuted or bullied or cast out is something a lot of people could relate to,” she tells Yahoo Lifestyle. “I started learning psychology, and I started blending superhero stories and other pop culture stories like Harry Potter...with therapy.”

Scarlet says the idea to integrate them came from working with former Marines suffering with PTSD. “When I was talking to them about their experience, a lot of them would say something along the lines of ‘I wanted to be a superhero. I failed,’” she tells Yahoo Lifestyle. “So I would say, does Superman have any kind of vulnerability? And of course they would say kryptonite. Then I would ask: ‘Does this make him any less of a superhero?’ And of course the answer was ‘no.”

Motivated by this, Scarlet created what she calls “superhero therapy” — a treatment that helps PTSD sufferers (including veterans) identify their own origin stories using the superheroes in their own lives to grow and heal. “[It] helps people feel less alone and more understood,” she says. “They might receive much needed counseling and encouragement and mentorship from these characters that is essentially that person’s own wisdom speaking to them at a time of need.”

Scarlet detailed the therapy in her book Therapy Quest: An Interactive Journey Through Acceptance And Commitment Therapy, but she says the first step of her program is acknowledging that every person can make a difference.“You are the hero of your own journey,” Scarlet tells Yahoo Lifestyle. “You are the chosen one; so whatever happens, please remember that you matter.”

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