I'm intrigued by your choice of study on Coelho. However, about your question, perhaps there is research done in the cognitive sciences. You might want to review some of Stockwell's introductions to Cognitive Poetics or chapter 6 of Arthur Frank's Letting Stories Breathe "How Stories Could be Good Companions". Empirically, however you might find usefull accounts such as John Stuart Mill's recovery from depression through Romantic poetry