Absolutely I think others' stories in whatever form can change us--but not always in the same ways nor for the same reasons nor to the same ends.

I "learned" how to identify emotions from literature. Seriously, my family was so contradictory and duplicitous about feelings (they don't exist, "don't be stupid, you're not angry," "I'm not hurting you, I love you," "everything's fine," "I'm not angry," etc) that I learned to connect the look on peoples' faces and their words to the names of feelings from literature and TV.

Empathy is a direct response to allowing ourselves to be changed--even if only temporarily--by another's experience. T's self-care is all about discharging the effects of vicarious pain.

But I don't think the effect is in the hands of the storyteller. We all have our own timetables for the potential for change, and vulnerabilities and moments of openness to change that can be influenced by others, but not controlled by them. Sometimes we say we want to change, but also have substantial resistance to change, and our reactions to that ambivalance take many forms, including responding in anger or defensiveness. But that doesn't mean the seeds of change haven't been planted.