Spring Semester, February 2015, Masaryk University of
Brno, Department of Czech Literature & Library Science
Instructor: Dr. Judit Béres, Ph.D., assistant professor
Institute of Library & Information Science, University of
Pécs, Hungary
E-mail: beres.judit@feek.pte.hu

 Alberto Manguel: The History of Reading
„ We all read ourselves and the world to get to know
what we are and where we are. We read because we
would like to understand something or to depart on
the path of understanding. Reading is an essential
human activity, just like taking breath.”
Reading & Mental Health

 „Every reader finds himself. The writer’s work is
merely a kind of optical instrument that makes it
possible for the reader to discern what, without this
book, he would perhaps never have seen in himself.”
/Marcel Proust/
Reading & Mental Health

 „The right story at the right moment is an arrow to
the heart. It can find and catch what is hiding inside
the reader (or the listener), the secret hurt or anger or
need that lies waiting, aching to be brought to the
surface.”
/Bruce Colville, children’s author, 1990/
Reading & Mental Health
 Increasing self-knowledge & emotional maturity
 To learn how the world functions
 To socialize: Development of social skills (empathy,
tolerance) & EQ (emotional quotient, emotional
intelligence)
 Empathic understanding of Others (patterns &
motivations of behaviour, emotions)
 Clarification of ‘prosocial’ values
 Development of one’s ethnic/cultural identity
 Appreciation of different cultures, viewpoints and lived
experiences
 Improve coping skills: we can find alternative responses
to our problems
 Foster wellbeing, entertain, relax
 Reduce negative emotions (stress, anxiety, loneliness)
Benefits of Reading

 byblion+therapeia (gr.)
(book) (care,serve,prevent,develop,heal)
 „Healing place of the soul.”
(Inscription over the entrance to the ancient library at
Thebes)
 Aristotle proposed the notion of emotional catharsis
– strong emotions may purify & heal the soul
 ancient hindu medical practice: the doctor gives to
the patient physical medicine and a story to read at
home (healing of the body and mind together!)
The roots of ‘Bibliotherapy’

 a special readers’ guidance to develop readers’
personality, social & problem-solving skills, emotional
intelligence, to help readers to cope with their social &
emotional problems
 the use of guided reading to help readers learn about and
cope with social or emotional struggles and
developmental needs through directed reading
 focuses on special tasks, methods and selection of
materials aiming to foster a deeper understanding of
ourselves, coping with crisis and existential questions
 „The process of dynamic interaction between the
personality of the reader and literature under the
guidance of a trained helper.” (Shrodes, 1950)
 “Therapeutic (literature-) reading that is used to help
solve or prevent problems.” (Stadel, 1964).
Bibliotherapy is…

Two main types of bibliotherapy
Clinical Bibliotherapy (prescriptive bt.): is
implemented by trained helping professionals
dealing with significant emotional or behavioral
problems
Developmental Bibliotherapy (creative bt.):
which may be used by teachers, librarians or lay
helpers to facilitate normal development and
self-actualization with an essentially healthy
population (therapy of healthy people)
active/receptive

 Mid-19th Century USA: several hospitals established
patient libraries
 Benjamin Rush doctor from Philadelphia (1815) – uses
the therapeutic value of reading in his medical practice
 John Minson Galt (1833) – reading is part of the
treatment of patients
 1916: the term of „bibliotherapy” appears first (Samuel
McChord Crothers); Iowa: hospital libraries
 1919: Elizabeth Green, dr. Sidney O. Schwab: The
Therapeutic Use of a Hospital Library
 1925-44: bt. as science – experimental or case studies,
researches, special training of bibliotherapist
professionals
 1931-40: University of Minnesota; annotated & thematic
bibliographies & booklists
 1939 Hospital Division of American Library Association,
first bibliotherapy board
Professionalization of Bibliotherapy

1946: bibliotherapeutic teams in hospitals of world war
veterans; individual or group sessions
1950’s: group therapy models proliferate – bt. goes out of
the hospitals
public libraries (children & youth), schools, social care
institutions, senior homes, prisons
 Readers’ advisory – special reader guidance, readers in
need of special information
 patient education, booklists, self-help books, minimal
contact therapy
 1990’s: bt. is employed by nearly every helping &
educational profession (school counselors, social workers,
metal health nurses, psychologists, psychiatrists, and
teachers, librarians), with all ages and with multiple
target groups
Professionalization of Bibliotherapy

 Biblio-/poetry therapy
 Bibliocounseling
 Bibliopsychology
 Bookmatching
 Literatherapy
 Library Therapeutics
 Guided Reading
 BiblioGuidance
Bibliotherapy has
different names…

 Readers’ development, developmental librarians
Readers’ development is an active intervention to:
 offer opportunities for people to share their reading
experience
 open up and expand reading choices
 increase people's confidence and enjoyment of
reading
Theoretical bases of Bibliotherapy
Library science: Readercentred
approach

 verbal & non-verbal art therapies (dance, music,
movement, fine art, theatre, film) – combinations,
complex art therapy (e.g. bt.+music+design+situation
plays)
 short dinamic psychotherapies, psychoanalitically
oriented psychotherapy and art therapy
 Psychological change takes time! (for a long lasting
influence) – min. 6 months intensive work, 1-2 years
 Counseling (exchanging opinions and ideas, give advice)
 Nancy Davis: Healing stories, therapeutic stories in the
treatment of PTSD
Theoretical bases of Bibliotherapy
Art therapies & psychotherapies

 Bibliotherapy is based on classic psychotherapy principles
of identification, inspiration and insight which leads to
motivation for positive change.
 The therapeutic process goes ahead through stages like
recognising, feeling, thinking and universalisation.
 The aim of the therapy is to elicite change in the attitudes
and behavior of the readers to enhance their problemsolving
skills, and hence increase their resourcefulness. It
aims to show readers that they are not alone because the
others have the same concerns or problems (Harvey,
2010).
Theoretical bases of Bibliotherapy
Art therapies & psychotherapies
 The Theory and Practice of Group Psychotherapy
 The main goal of the therapeutic process is not the healing
as a medical issue, but the positive life-change and the
development itself (1995).
 psychotheraputic novels
(e.g. Love’s Executioner;
When Nietzsche Wept.;
Momma and the Meaning of Life;
The Schopenhauer Cure; The Spinoza Problem)
 working in the „here-and-now”
 transparency of the therapist
 psychotherapy & writing
Theoretical bases of Bibliotherapy
Existential psychotherapy
Irvin D. Yalom
James W.
Pennebaker:
expressive
emotions therapy
(EET)
 Psychologist specialising in
language & cognition
 reading and expressive
writing with traumatised
children
 helps readers ‘translate’
their traumatic, emotionally
disturbing experiences into
powerful writing that is
clinically proven to promote
recovery
 helps people to confront
deep, personal issues
promotes psysical health
and subjective wellbeing
Norman N.
Holland:
The Dynamics of
Literary Response
(1968)
 psychoanalytic model of reader
response, United States, late
1960s
 demonstrates the vital role of the
reader in creating the "meaning"
of a text – transactional theory
 personal response to the text:
reading is shaped by identity
themes and the life-experience
of the reader
 2006: Meeting Movies
interpretations of 8 classic
movies with the associations and
memories that explain why I
perceive the movies as I do
 core meaning: potential meaning
patterns imposed by the text –
meaning derives from the reader
not from the text
 literary work is a dinamic entity:
the reader selects and relates the
perspectives of the text from
his/her own viewpoint

 began in the 1960s and '70s, particularly in the US and
Germany, in work by Norman Holland, Stanley Fish,
Wolfgang Iser, Hans-Robert Jauss, Roland Barthes, Louise
Rosenblatt etc.
 a school of literary theory that focuses on the reader and
their personal experience of a literary work
 in contrast to other schools and theories that focus
primarily on the author or the content and form of the
text
 pays attention to the reader's role in creating the meaning
and experience of a literary text
Theoretical bases of Bibliotherapy
Literary Theory: Readerresponse
criticism
Louise
Rosenblatt:
Literature as
Exploration
(1938)
 it is important for the
teacher to avoid imposing
any "preconceived notions
about the proper way to
react to any work„
 "The Reader, The Text, The
Poem: The Transactional
Theory of the Literary
Work" (1978)
 the act of reading literature
involves a transaction
between the reader and the
text
 each "transaction" is a
unique experience in which
the reader and text
continuously act and are
acted upon by each other

 Disturbed young people have read a strong text aloud
together
 Talked about it with a practised facilitator and trusted
community members
 Discussing characters and subjects that concern they own
lives, and then written about it
 It can transform their ideas of themselves and their future
lives
 They are better to externalise selfhood
 They can exist in the world while feeling that their
internal being has connected to the outside world through
books
/James W. Pennebaker: Reading & Expressive Writing with
Tarumatised Children, Young Refugeees and Asylum
Seekers. Unpack my Heart with Words. 2014/
How the group therapy helps?

 Bibliotherapy is based on classic psychotherapy principles of
identification, inspiration and insight which leads to motivation
for positive change. This can help readers gain insight into
themselves by connecting with characters and values written in
poems, short stories, novels or other non-fiction texts.
 The reading is followed up with some discussion when the
reader can share her/his ideas and feelings with the help of free
associations, and has the opportunity to the express of their
own subjective response to the text shaped by their identity and
life-experience (Holland, 1968).
 The therapeutic process goes ahead through stages like
recognising, feeling, thinking and universalisation. The aim of
the therapy is to elicite change in the attitudes and behavior of
the readers to enhance their problem-solving skills, and hence
increase their resourcefulness. It aims to show readers that they
are not alone because the others have the same concerns or
problems (Harvey, 2010).
 The main goal of the therapeutic process is the positive lifechange,
the development itself (Yalom, 1995).
How the group therapy helps?
•Support of the deeper understanding of Others’ different ways of
thinking, their motivations and reasons behind their communication,
verbal and non-verbal reflections
•Support of the deeper understanding of ourselves (weaknesses and
strenghts, lacks) and foster the realisation of the needed development of
problem-solving, communication & social skills (empathy, tolerance) for
future success
•Reduction of feelings of isolation by learning that others shared their
experience („sense of universality”, universalization) – participants feel
they are not alone suffering from problems
•To hear and learn how others could solve similar problems
• Have opportunity to share strong feelings, personal readings and
arguments, get emotional feedback
•„Holding” – corrective emotional experience; gaining comfort or
reassurance
•Being motivated to act differently & to a positive life-change
•Temporary escape from pressing problems, support
•Emotional release (catharsis)

Cognitive Benefits
 promotion of reading books, to develop a love for
literature and reading, motivation to read
 gaining knowledge, special information, advice or
recommendations which help make decisions and talk
effectively
 development of critical thinking, handling of
information, communicative skills
 improvement of communication, thinking and
aesthetic skills
 learning benefits: readers gain a richer insight and
meaning of a text - better understanding, reading and
writing skills

Special target groups
Bibliotherapy for Youth
The bibliotherapeutic intervention in secondary school
environment can be used
 to promote psychological well-being
 to srenghten self-knowledge
 to develop social & emotional intelligence (EQ)
 research reviews, case & experimental studies (e.g.
Bibliotherapy for youth and adolescents - School-based
application and research by Debbie McCulliss & David
Chamberlain, 2013, Journal of Poetry Therapy)

Subgroup: Disadvantaged Youth
Bt. programs in 3 types of secondary schools (vocational
school, technical college, grammar school for gifted
children)
Therapeutic aims:
 to moderate upper socio-emotional risks & distress
 to develop EQ & positive self-image
 to facilitate self-responsibility in self-help activities /
empowerment
 to foster a positive life-change (more opportunities &
successful life)

Our work
 professional team: librarians, teachers, psychologists
working together
 beginning of the group works: personality tests
(motivation, self-image, level of distress)
 use of active (e.g. creative writing, collage, drama) and
receptive developmental bt. methods (reading of
poetry, short stories, parts of novels)




Topic Text Acitive techniques Reception,
pupils’ opinion
Th.Effect
holding and caring in
human relationships,
patience, values
János Pilinszky:
Secrets of our
religion (Advent)
write 5 characreistics as you
see yourself + 5 as Others
see you
3 5
self-confidence,
giftedness, emotional
resources, courage,
empowerment
The wings of
Lotilko (Tunguz
tale)
Ágnes Ágai's adolescent
poems, write a similar poem
about yourself
4 5
responsability, sense
of duty
La Fontaine: The
cricket and the
ant
puzzle; Dixit play cards 5 5
dreams, plans for the
future, carrier planning
Frigyes Karinthy:
Meeting with a
young man
write recommendations for
the 8-9 years younger
yourself
4 5

pop icons, youth
subcultures and
trends, positive self-
image
Krisztina Tóth:
The soul is
megabody
write a similar
advertisement about
yourself as Virág Erdős'
Liar Tale
5 5
aims, fighting,
insistence, trust
Dino Buzzati:
The man who
wanted to
recover
puzzle, collage 3 5
family relationships,
image of the fathermother,
personal
development
István Örkény:
Naples
situation plays 5 5
adolescence,
teenagers and adults,
primary attachments
Nick Hornby:
About a boy
Dixit cards 3 4

adolescence,
separation,
detachment
Erzsébet Tóth:
Sleeping boy
puzzle 3 5
otherness, disabilities,
happiness, values
Bohumil Hrabal:
Diamond eyes
free associations, mindmap 4 5
personal
development, self-
knowledge
Géza Gárdonyi:
My story
collage 5 5
self-image, respect of
others, love
István Örkény:
Have you seen
her?
write a similar
advertisement
3 4

Main outcomes 1
Group leaders’ opinion:
the aesthetic value of the applicated bt. text
doesn’t correlate with the therapeutic
effectiveness (many times participants didn’t like the
most effective texts)
need for differentiation: the age gap between
participants could make hard working together
(differences between 15-16-17 years olds)
students are not socialized for non-formal
learning & it’s hard to express themselves
Teacher colleagues’ positive feedback: there is a
strong need for art therapy in schools

Main outcomes 2
Participants’ feedback:
 sense of „universality”& support of the group is their
most important experience
 deeper understanding of Others
 deeper understanding of ourrselves (weaknesses and
strenghts, lacks)
 development of problem-solving, communication &
social skills (empathy, tolerance) for future success
 willing to take part in future bt. groups

Special target groups
Bibliotherapy for Women
 Mothers in crisis, living in a social care institution
 Women prisoners
 Women readers coming randomly to the public
library
Common therapeutic aims:
 Understanding the challenging situations and better
problemsolving, better coping skills during female
lifecycle periods
 Give opportunity to care about ourselves, and to
gain a deeper insight, to share female experiences
BT. groups for Women

 Pragnant mothers, young fathers, and future
grandparents – readers of a public library
Therapeutic aims:
Foster self confidence, self-esteem (against myths)
Reduce frustration and stress
Share fears and expectations
Prevention of problems in their partnership
Give special information related to child care
Groups for young parents

Groups for young parents


 Old people living in a closed social care institution,
senior homes
 Active old people participating in s senior academy
(adult education course) at the university / monthly
 Old people who are members of a senior club getting
together every week
Common therapeutic aims: refreshment of memory,
fighting dementia signs, giving opportunity to
communicate with human beings, reduce loneliness
Groups for Seniors

It is important to deal with…
 Participants’ actual life-cycle, special life situation,
tipical problems & crisis they face
 Participants’ emotional & special information needs
 Participants’ mental & emotional level of maturity
 Participants’ possible learning or reading problems
 Flexibility: change our therapeutic plans if
participants have other actual problems & needs
Selection of Materials

 The selection of readings suitable for bibliotheraputic work are
based on how the certain text contains values the therapy is
focusing on. The good text fosters common thinking and
discussion about the certain topic, guides its reader to a deeper
understanding of him- or herself, it is capable to develop
directly his or her self-knowledge, social and emotional skills.
e.g. selection criteria from Goddard (2011):
 1. motivating and challenging experiences;
 2. suitability to age, ability, and maturity;
 3. elicits response;
 4. range of literacy structures;
 5. proper use of language;
 6. broadens understanding of diversity;
 7. develops sensitivity and understanding.
Selection criteria

 Choose your target group
 Distinguish your higher level and lower level therapeutic aims
(it depends on the special developmental needs of your target
group)
 Decide the form and lenght of the therapy (individual or group
work/ problem-centered or general, mixed group/ closed or
open group of 10-12 persons / 1-2-3 meetings per month / 45
minutes-2-3-hours-long discussions
 Choose the texts you plan to work with participants (we intend
to spread therapeutic values and not aesthetic ones!) e.g.
literature (poems, short stories, novels), non-literature (parts
from the Bible, folk tales, therapeutic stories, diaries, articles),
popular fiction books, self-help books, scientific books, lyrics
 Plan the logical and emotional path of the therapeutic process
 Plan some active techniques (creative writing, plays etc.) you
intend to apply
 Get feedback from participants – measure the therapeutic
effectiveness & improve your work
 Share and discuss your experiences with colleagues, get
therapeutic supervision
Important steps

 American Library Association. ‘Bibliotherapy’:
http://www.ala.org/tools/bibliotherapy
 Beatty, William K. A Historical Review of Bibliotherapy. Library Trends 11 (2)
1962: 106-117. URL:
https://www.ideals.illinois.edu/bitstream/handle/2142/6050/librarytrendsv11i2c_opt.pd
f?sequence=1
 Bolton, Gillie (2011). Write Yourself: Creative Writing and Personal Development.
London: Jessica Kingsley Publishers.
 Cather, Christine (2006). To Every Reader Her Book: Creating Bibliotherapy for
Women. Dissertation for MA of Information and Library Studies, University of
Strathclyde.
 URL:http://www.academia.edu/204128/To_Every_Reader_Her_Book_Creatin
g_Bibliotherapy_for_Women
 Changing Lives Through Literature, bibliotherapy programme for prisoners,
University of Massachusetts, blog:
https://cltlblog.wordpress.com/category/bibliotherapy/
 Doll, B. & Doll, C. A. (1997). Bibliotherapy with Young People: Librarians and
Mental Health Professionals Working Together. Englewood, Colo: Libraries Unlimited.
 Goddard, A. T. (2011). Children’s books for use in bibliotherapy. Journal of
Pediatric Health Care, 25(1), 57-61.
Readings & Resources

 Gold, Joseph (2009). The O'Henry Syndrome. Bibliotherapy and Applied
Literature: An E-Journal, Association of Bibliotherapy & Applied Literature
Conference, keynote lecture, URL:
http://www.abal.laurentian.ca/Text/Gold_OHenry.pdf
 Plock, Simon du (2014). ‘Bibliotherapy and Beyond: Research as a
Catalyst for Change in Therapeutic Practice’, in Goss, S. P. & Stevens,
C. (eds). Making Research Matter. Researching for change in the theory and
practice of counselling and psychotherapy. London: Routledge.
 Ihanus, Juhani (2012): Finnish Experiences in biblio-/poetry therapy.
Lapidus Journal, 6 (2) URL: http://www.lapidus.org.uk/wp-
content/uploads/2013/04/Finnish-experiences-of-training-in-biblio-poetry-
therapy-by-Juhani-Ihanus1.pdf
 International Federation of Biblio/poetry Therapy web site:
http://ifbpt.org/
 Journal of Poetry Therapy. National Association for Poetry Therapy
web site: http://www.poetrytherapy.org/
 Literature Therapy Team web site: http://www.littherapy.com/

 McCulliss, Debbie & Chamberlain, David (2013). Bibliotherapy for
youth and adolescents: School-based application and research. Journal
of Poetry Therapy. 26 (1), 13-40. URL:
http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.1080/08893675.2013.764052
 McLaine, Susan (2012). Bibliotherapy: Reading for Wellbeing in Old Age.
URL: https://fightdementia.org.au/sites/default/files/Susan_McLaine.pdf
 McMillen, P.S. & Pehrsson, D.E. (2004). Specialty of the house:
Bibliotherapy for hospital patients. Journal of Hospital Librarianship, 4
(1), 73-82.
 Pehrsson, Dale-Elizabeth & McMillen, Paula (2005). A bibliotherapy
evaluation tool: Grounding counselors in the therapeutic use of
literature. The Arts in Psychotherapy, 32 (1), 47-59.
 Pehrsson, Dale-Elizabeth & McMillen, Paula (2006). Competent
Bibliotherapy: Preparing Counselors To Use Literature With Culturally
Diverse Clients. URL: http://counselingoutfitters.com/Pehrsson.htm
 Well into words. A short film about bibliotherapy services in Kirklees
Libraries, England. http://vimeo.com/wellintowords