Reading therapy aims at bridging this gap by providing information, support and guidance in the form of reading books and stories and using information and knowledge to help you improve your life.
Reading, as a method to promote healing and achieve therapeutic purposes, is a common strategy in many therapeutic methods. However, there are still differences between reading therapy and other established psychotherapy methods, such as cognitive behavioral therapy. In fact, psychologists usually regard bibliotherapy as a relaxing way and regard it as an auxiliary part of the treatment process.
Because reading therapy is usually used to assist other forms of treatment, it is suitable for individuals or groups, as well as people of different ages. Psychological counseling through reading novels is more common in children or adolescents with low psychological maturity.
In group counseling, bibliotherapy enables participants to actively discuss problems by providing relevant literature. Through interactive feedback, it is helpful to improve the communication and coordination of groups and encourage participants to have deeper exchanges and contacts. ?
There are many kinds of reading therapy, and different schools have different opinions. Prin Oberle divided reading therapy into diagnostic reading therapy, clinical reading therapy, developmental reading therapy and protective reading therapy. We don't need to explain technical terms. Interested friends, I recommend you to read Wang Bo's book "Reading Therapy", in which a chapter introduces the types of reading therapy in detail.
Dr Sam Gladden is a professor of online counseling and human services program at Wake Forest University, specializing in reading therapy. He described bibliotherapy as a dynamic tripartite interaction, including a book, a psychological counselor and a patient.
Counselors recommend a book or novel to patients according to the problems or stress areas involved in their lives. Gladden pointed out that the relevance between a book or novel and the problems faced by patients is very important, so that they can identify with the protagonist in the novel or story. Then, the counselor and the patient discuss how the protagonist handles the problem and the applicability of one or more solutions in the book to the patient's situation.
Chad Paellmann strongly agrees with this view: "Usually, counselors will use bibliotherapy to designate specific books for patients to read after class," he said. "This strategy will help to promote empathy, insight, dialogue and self-growth."
The benefits of bibliotherapy
Through stories, poems, plays, short stories and self-help materials in novels and non-fiction books, psychological counselors can help you understand the problems that initially bothered you.
Gain personal insight
Reading therapy helps you gain insight into the personal challenges you face and formulate strategies to solve the problems that concern you most. It can also help to promote problem solving, understanding and self-awareness. Benefits outside the treatment: During the treatment, a book is agreed, and the counselor outside the treatment can assign homework. This method is helpful to deepen the significance of treatment courses and promote better study.
Gladden said that another way for psychological counselors to use reading therapy is through a preventive model, which can help people learn how to cope with life challenges.
Get a perspective
A more convincing reason for using bibliotherapy is that it can help you see how other people, such as the characters in the book, solve and deal with similar problems. When you identify with a fictional or non-fictional character, especially on the emotional level, you will find that there are others who are also dealing with personal struggles.