Healing mental health through reading: Bibliotherapy

Bibliotherapy which is the method of healing through reading refers to the therapeutic method in which the client gets to know his/her inner world and develops a different perspective for problems by looking at it from the eyes of a book character. The main purpose of this review is to provide information on the history, types and stages of bibliotherapy- a method which can be traced far back. Another purpose of this review is to reflect the effectiveness of bibliotherapy for mental health problems. The stages of bibliotherapy can be listed as identification, catharsis, insight and integration. As the individual passes through these stages it becomes easier to tackle with the current problem. The most prominent feature of bibliotherapy is that it helps one to realize that he/she is not the only person facing a certain problem. Research indicates that bibliotherapy is effective when it comes to treating a variety of pathologic symptoms which prevail in major depressive disorders, anxiety disorders, grief and trauma, etc