Insight into Bibliotherapy: History, Benefits, and Application

BIBLIOTHERAPY Dr.M.Ranganathan Professor (Rtd) Department of Psychiatric Social Work NIMHANS, Bangalore

Introduction Bibliotherapy is a form of clinical or self- empowerment therapy, connection to psychotherapy, that includes reading as a part of a treatment. Therapeutic reading is useful for mental health disorders (anxiety disorders, mood disorders, depressive episodes, phobias, sleep disorders ) or for strengthening psychological well-being often used in

Brief History In the midst of the First World War, doctors at the Alabama Military Hospital in the United States used books to relieve posttraumatic stress for soldiers returning from the war. Then, the 1950s marked the proliferation of research on bibliotherapy in a wide variety of fields (nursing, social work, education)

Bibliotherapy is the use of a set of selected readings as therapeutic tools in medicine and psychiatry; a way to solve personal problems through directed reading The first known organized form of bibliotherapy in clinical settings can be dated back to thirteenth century Egypt where the hospital staff and religious leaders at the Al Mansour Hospital in Cairo read the Quran to their patients in addition to medical treatment (Ruben, 1978)

It was religious texts that came to be the most used literature for early bibliotherapy up until the mid-nineteenth century. (Tews, 1969) In the 1970s, it was applied to individuals suffering from eating disorders or childhood disorders and elderly.

Definition Bibliotherapy" be defined as a program of selected activity involving reading materials which is planned, conducted, and guided by a mental health professionals.

Three bibliotherapy are identified the classical repertoire (novel, poetry, biography, fiction) works based on theme psychology; they can describe a current disorder as well as provide information on a specific disorder. self-help books categories of books used in

Aristotle (384322 BC) presented the concept of using literature and drama for healing and purification (catharsis) of negative emotions. the neurologist Sigmund Freud (1856 1939) referred to Aristotle's idea of catharsis when describing how literature therapeutic effect on negative emotions (Sachs, 1949). can have a

Similar connections between literature and therapy can also be found in the architecture. Inspired by Freud's work, fairytales, symbols, and myths became a central theme within the Jungian psychoanalytic context.

Bibliotherapy can be called developmental bibliotherapy cognitive behavioral bibliotherapy CBT mainly uses self-help books

self-help books are an additional form of bibliotherapy that can be used in conjunction with cognitive behavioral therapy. Depression, anxiety (Popa, 2017), posttraumatic stress disorder (Glavin, 2017), panic attacks, insomnia and stress, and strokes and their psychological consequences are some examples of psychiatric and psychological conditions where self-help books have been proven to be helpful.

Indicators Restored clinical conditions Free from active symptoms Reading habits Needs and interest

Contra-indications Qualitative Cognitive deficits Poor drug compliance and poor f/up Poor family support Negative symptoms

Clinical Conditions Depression (Floyd, 2003) Adolescent Depression Depression in Older adults Dementia Suicidal ideations Cognitive impairment Post-traumatic stress Anxiety Substance use disorder (AA Big Book)

Non-clinical (Developmental) Isolation Boredom Empowerment Motivation Inspiration Attitudinal changes We-feeling Insight development Reformation Social connection Relaxing experience

Effectiveness In Scotland, depression; half were put on antidepressants the other followed a therapy program through reading the book Overcoming Depression and having related discussions with psychologists. At the end of 4 months, 42.6% of patient-readers saw their degree significantly compared to 24.5% of patients on medication. this study was conducted using a guided self-help CBT treatment 200 patients diagnosed with of depression reduce

Bibliotherapy was originally developed to treat depression. It has also been used among caregivers in recent years (Chien, 2016) bibliotherapy was effective in improving the care experiences of caregivers of people with psychosis (Chien, 2016), as well as the resilience of caregivers who care for people with depression (McCann, 2017).

a meta-analysis, improve the mental well-being of caregivers with neurocognitive disorders have also been considered and suggest a favorable effect on their well-being (Wang 2020) using bibliotherapy to

Application of Bibliotherapy Cancer (anxiety, distress, and coping) (Malibiran, 2018) Bibliotherapy may be helpful by facilitating abreaction, projection, verbalization, constructive thinking between interviews, and reinforcement of social and cultural patterns. gratification,

Fifteen randomized controlled trials with a total of 1,113 participants (781 women; 332 men) met inclusion criteria. Compared with no treatment, unassisted bibliotherapy, Assisted bibliotherapy had significant positive effects on female sexual functioning; no effects on male sexual functioning were found. larger proportions of female participants reporting remission of sexual dysfunction, and sexual satisfaction was higher in treated participants, both female and male participants (Jacques, 2021).

bibliotherapy services to engage with people living with dementia The concept of the Book Well Program has been adapted for people with dementia by including shorter, stand-alone texts and poetry chosen to assist with dementia-related issues. The texts are usually printed in larger font to allow participants to facilitator speaks more slowly and loudly, taking time to describe pieces in the story that need explanation. read along and the

The sessions for groups catering to people with dementia are usually shorter than other sessions. An evaluation of this programme in 2010 found that reading aloud could have positive well-being effects as well as improve communication and recall. A further evaluation in 2012 found that the programme had a positive effect on participants by offering an improved type of social activity where they could connect with each other in different ways.

read-aloud bibliotherapy group for elderly people, including some with dementia. The study found participation for people with dementia as they conveyed that they understood the meaning of passages read aloud and expressed that they previously forgotten memories. cognitive benefits of were reminded of

Bibliotherapy Vs individual cognitive psychotherapy for depression in older adults that treatment gains from baseline to the 2-year follow-up period were maintained on Hamilton Rating Scale for Depression (HRSD) and the Geriatric Depression Scale (GDS). There were no significant differences between the treatments on the GDS or HRSD at the 2-year follow-up; however, bibliotherapy participants had significantly more recurrences of depression during the follow-up period. (Floyd, 2006)

Who can be Bibliotherapist ? Nursing Social Work Education Librarianship Should have a passion for connecting people with texts

Five principles of Bibliotherapy Person-centered flexible and adaptable bibliotherapy in practice is best defined by its ethos bibliotherapy is fundamentally diverse and tailored to the needs and their interest inclusive and shared approach to read aloud

Guidelines avoids value judgments of texts Avoid prescriptive list of its activities members could select and bring their own texts and Some can produce their own writing

bibliotherapy can be provided in group sessions sharing ideas about what worked

References Stip E, stlundh L, Abdel Aziz K. Bibliotherapy: Reading OVID During COVID. Front Psychiatry. 2020;11:567539 Brewster L, McNicol S. Bibliotherapy in Practice: A Person-Centred Approach to using Books for Mental Health and Dementia in the Community. Medical Humanities (2020). Tews RM. Bibliotherapy. In: Encyclopedia of Library and Information Science. Vol. 2. New York, NY: Dekker (1969). p. 448 57. Ruben RJ. Bibliotherapy Sourcebook. Phoenix, AZ: Oryx P (1978). Popa D, Porumbu D. Bibliotherapy in Clinical Context: an Umbrella Review. Bulletin of the Transilvania University of Brasov Series VII: Social Sciences Law (2017). Glavin CEY, Montgomery P. Creative bibliotherapy for post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD): a systematic review. J Poetry Ther. (2017) 30:95 107.

Wang S, Bressington DT, Leung AYM, Davidson PM, Cheung DSK. The effects of bibliotherapy on the mental well-being of informal caregivers of people with neurocognitive disorder: a systematic review and meta- analysis. Int J Nurs Stud. (2020) 109:103643. Malibiran R, Tariman JD, Amer K. Bibliotherapy: Appraisal of Evidence for Patients Diagnosed With Cancer. Clin J Oncol Nurs. 2018 Aug 1;22(4):377- 380. Floyd M. Bibliotherapy as an adjunct to psychotherapy for depression in older adults. J Clin Psychol. 2003 Feb;59(2):187-95. Floyd M, Rohen N, Shackelford JA, Hubbard KL, Parnell MB, Scogin F, Coates A. Two-year follow-up of bibliotherapy and individual cognitive therapy for depressed older adults. Behav Modif. 2006 May;30(3):281-94.