Bibliotherapy, or reading therapy is a therapy program sponsored on ones own, through local libraries, clinics, and schools to help people deal with mental illness. This type of therapy can help people with mental illness recover. Even if you do not have a mental illness, by reading you develop a higher level of empathy. By reading, we place ourselves in the character’s place and we can better understand their experiences. Some books such as The Scarlet Letter or The Bell can help people understand alienation, lonliness, shaming and stigma. Many people with mental illness write their own books, enabling the reader, especially the ones with a mental illness a way to connect to their own experiences. Religious and spiritual books also bring great comfort to the readers as they help them deal with their condition as they find support and comfort. Literature can help save people with mental anguish, it gives them a place to go and explore their circumstances.
Key Takeaways:
- Many persons who are avowed bookworms are worried about the future of reading books because they feel that social media is making reading books go obsolete.
- It was found that despite the fears about reading books that the trend of reading books is still stable even as stable as that of 2002.
- A mental health intervention program that is called bibliotherapy aims to help people with mental problems to take up the practice of reading books as a form of cure.
“Such groups remain uncommon, despite the efforts of organizations such as the American Library Association, which houses a number of bibliotherapy resources on their website for adults and children.”