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Tips to Use this Guide
This guide provides diverse texts to read, listed in the tabs on the left, and tips how to reflect on the readings. Find a text of interest under one of the tabs. Each box contains a brief description and why to read the story, poem, or book, a link to the full text, and a link to find more content of interest, including discussion questions and talking points, the author’s background and other works, and more in related guides and blog posts created by the Books We Read team.
DISCLAIMER: Although bibliotherapy works well as complementary treatment, please contact your healthcare professional if you are experiencing physical or mental health issues. Rutgers students are advised to reach out to Medical & Counseling Services at Student Health.
About Bibliotherapy
In its modern application, bibliotherapy is used as a complementary method to treat a variety of disorders, including insomnia, anxiety, obsessive compulsive disorder, and addiction, and it shows promise for use by both children and adults. There is great variety in how bibliotherapy is performed, with some readers working directly under the supervision of their doctor or counselor and others choosing to pursue an entirely self-directed course of treatment.
Bibliotherapy refers to the use of books from a list created under the guidance of a subject expert in order to address a therapeutic need. Although the practice has received growing attention in recent years, the term bibliotherapy itself was first coined a century ago, and the underlying belief that books can provide healing benefits to readers is one that dates all the way back to antiquity.
- Definitions and Aspects of BibliotherapyRead more about the history and changing definitions of the term. Applications of bibliotherapy in diverse setting also presented, along with a basic bibliography in the Wikipedia entry.
- What is Bibliotherapy?Blog post from Books We Read about the basics of bibliotherapy.
Although not licensed therapists, librarians often find themselves in the role of the "accidental bibliotherapist," when provide book recommendations and readers advisory to a patron, or as they run book discussions either in the library or in an online setting.
Note: The phrase “accidental bibliotherapist” was first used by Liz Brewster in Brewster, L. (2009). Reader Development and Mental Wellbeing: The Accidental Bibliotherapist. Australasian Public Libraries and Information Services, 22(1), 13–16.
- Shelf Help: Bibliotherapy in LibrariesBlog post from Books We Read on how libraries and librarians can foster wellness.
- Brewster, L. (2009). Reader development and mental wellbeing: The accidental bibliotherapist. Australasian Public Libraries and Information Services, 22(1), 13-16.In this article, Brewster places bibliotherapy within a longstanding tradition of librarians matching the right book to the right reader at the right time. Using the same professional techniques that help them to serve and respond to the needs of all their readers, including collection development and readers’ advisory skills as well as expertise in leading book groups, Brewster notes that librarians are well-situated to serve in an unofficial capacity in the facilitation of bibliotherapy treatment.
- Levin, L., & Gildea, R. (2013). Bibliotherapy: Tracing the roots of a moral therapy movement in the United States from the early nineteenth century to the present. Journal of the Medical Library Association, 101(2), 89-91.In this article, the authors trace the origins of bibliotherapy in the United States from early writings by one of the nation’s founding fathers, Doctor Benjamin Rush, who recommended the use of reading in the treatment of psychiatric patients, all the way up to its present role in today’s hospitals. Providing a fascinating look back at the long history of bibliotherapy, the article presents it as a treatment that has truly stood the test of time, one that represents a tried and true means of helping patients suffering from a variety of ailments.
- Macdonald, J., Vallance, D., & McGrath, M. (2013). An evaluation of a collaborative bibliotherapy scheme delivered via a library service. Journal of Psychiatric & Mental Health Nursing, 20(10), 857-865.This article reports on Read Yourself Well, a bibliotherapy program designed to help adults with mild to moderate mental health problems. Delivered through a public library, the program treated patients referred by their general practice doctors, local social welfare agencies, and those who were self-referred. Results of the study, which included more than 150 participants, showed that members showed significant improvement by the end of the program, including individuals from all three referral routes, both men and women, and both those who were already library users and those who joined specifically to participate in the program.
- Monroy-Fraustro, D. et al (2021). Bibliotherapy as a Non-pharmaceutical Intervention to Enhance Mental Health in Response to the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Mixed-Methods Systematic Review and Bioethical Meta-Analysis. Frontiers in Public Health, 9, 629872–62987A systematic review of bibliotherapy as a non-pharmaceutical treatment offered as psychological support analyzing review articles on the effectiveness of bibliotherapy on different mental health problems.
- Walwyn, O., & Rowley, J. (2011). The value of therapeutic reading groups organized by public libraries. Library & Information Science Research, 33(4), 302-312.This article examines the benefits of bibliotherapy conducted as part of reading groups at public libraries. Conducting interviews with fourteen participants, the authors report that participants were very positive about their experiences. They highlighted a number of benefits, which generally fell into one of two groups, relating to reading (and, more broadly, access books), and group interaction. The experiences of participants were found to lead to increased self-assurance and self-esteem and were also correlated with increased social inclusion and economic activity.
- Can reading make you happier?"Reading has been shown to put our brains into a pleasurable trance-like state, similar to meditation, and it brings the same health benefits of deep relaxation and inner calm. " (New Yorker)
- Are you in beed of bibliotherapy?"think about a one-off bibliotherapy session—followed by months or years of reading—rather than months of weekly therapy sessions with a cognitive psychologist or psychotherapist." (Psychology Today)
- Novels and neurons: the very real science of bibliotherapy and the fascinating ways that reading can change our brains for the betterA blog post about the benefits of reading: it reduces stress, preserves memory, help you be a better person, makes you kinder, improves relationships, etc. (2021).
- Bibliotherapy for depression: How reading can enhance wellbeing.Engaging in bibliotherapy brings on emotional and cognitive shifts. Bibliotherapy can help reduce symptoms in subclinical and mild depression. (Psychology Today)
- Bibliotherapy (American Library Association)Web-based and print resources on the topic of bibliotherapy.
- Bibliotherapy Book ListA thoughtful list of books to read with various issues.
- Goodreads Reading ClubsConnect with like-minded readers on a variety of topics via one of the world largest virtual book groups.
- LibraryThing GroupsSelect from hundreds of topics and reading lists.
Books on Bibliotherapy
Contact Information
This guide was created by Judit H. Ward, science reference and instruction librarian, and program director of Books We Read, and Nicholas Allred, graduate specialist, PhD candidate at the English Department.