Healing Mental Health through Reading: Bibliotherapy

Abstract

Bibliotherapy is the method of healing through reading and it refers to the therapeutic process in which the client makes use of books and educative materials for improving his/her mental health. There are three types of bibliotherapy: the one which is used in clinical settings, developmental bibliyotherapy and creative bibliotherapy. The main purpose of this review is to provide information on the types of bibliotherapy. Another purpose of this review is to reflect the effectiveness of bibliotherapy for mental health problems. Research indicates that bibliotherapy is effective when it comes to treating a variety of pathological symptoms which prevail in major depressive disorders, anxiety disorders, grief and trauma.

Keywords

• bibliotherapy
• major depressive disorder
• anxiety disorders
• grief
• trauma