![]() ![]() PsychologyToday goes on to describe four therapeutic stages in bibliotherapy: identification, catharsis, insight, and universalization. I must say I felt very affirmed to know that I was engaging in a clinically-proven method to improve mental health, and not just an escapist trip to daydream-land! I have been reading fiction as a means of resetting my mind and heart for most of my life. ![]() It has been shown to ease the effects of depression, PTSD, OCD, perfectionism, and other disorders from childhood to old age. Fiction, poetry, biography, memoir, and even self-help books can fit the bill for bibliotherapy. Others tend to live too much in the dark and hard places of our minds and need happier works to lift us out of darkness. I once had a friend tell me that her counselor had prescribed a modern retelling of King Lear in order to make her face dark and hard realities. For those who aren’t, PsychologyToday describes it as “facilitating psychological growth and healing through reading.” All kinds of books can be therapeutic, and counselors who use bibliotherapy will “prescribe” specific books intended to help a person struggling through a particular issue. ![]() Never heard of it? Neither had I, at least by name, until browsing a lifestyle magazine a few months ago. ![]()
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