What Is Bibliotheraphy

What is Bibliotherapy? * Bibliotherapy - the use of literature to help people cope with emotional problems, mental illness, or changes in their lives or to produce affective change and promote personality growth and development. * The underlying premise of bibliotherapy is that clients identify with literary characters similar to themselves, an association that helps the clients release emotions, gain new directions in life, and explore new ways of interacting * E.g. Teenage readers may feel relief that they are not the only ones facing a specific problem. * They learn vicariously how to solve their problems by reflecting on how the characters in the book solve theirs
Some approaches in Bibliotherapy * Traditional bibliotherapy * Tended to be more 'reactive' * Focused on getting individuals to react positively or negatively to the reading material. * Therapeutic process * More interactive one: the reader becomes part of the unfolding intellectual and emotional process of the story, and in struggling to understand what is being communicated at the deepest levels, the reader responds by making a positive alternation or modification in behavior or attitude. * Interactive bibliotherapy * Help them reflect on what they read, such as group discussion and dialogue journal writing. * In clinical bibliotherapy and bibliocounseling * Skilled practitioners use therapeutic methods to help individuals experiencing serious emotional problems. * Developmental bibliotherapy * Classroom teachers are more likely to use this method * Involves helping students in their normal health and development * Advantage - teachers can identify the concerns of their students and address the issues before problems arise. * Students can also be guided through predictable stages of adolescence
Basic stages in Bibliotherapy
Generally, activities in bibliotherapy are designed to: *