Bibliotherapy

Bibliotherapy is an expressive therapy that uses an individual's relationship to the content of books and poetry and other written words as therapy. Bibliotherapy is often combined with writing therapy.

Bibliotherapy is using books to aid people in solving the issues that they may be facing at a particular time.It consists of selecting reading material relevant to a client's life situation. Bibliotherapy has also been explained as "a process of dynamic interaction between the personality of the reader and literature-interaction which may be utilized for personal assessment, adjustment, and growth. Bibliotherapy for adults is a form of self-administered treatment in which structured materials provide a means to alleviate distressThe concept of the treatment is based on the human inclination to identify with others through their expressions in literature and art. For instance, agrieving child who reads, or is read a story about another child who has lost a parent may feel less alone in the world.

The concept of bibliotherapy has widened over time, to include self-help manuals without therapeutic intervention.