Bibliotherapy: Do You Really Need a Doctor or Government to Tell You to Read?

In an article that notes there are over 100,000 self-help books (I think the actual number is much larger, since Amazon lists over 285,000 in-print self-help books), apparently Leah Price is enamored at the thought of a doctor “prescribing” reading. And a government agency — the UK’s National Health Service — endorsing the idea. The idea of a “prescription” for a book is as ridiculous as the idea that you need to be told to shower regularly to remove the stink. Reading to understand something better is a basic skill nearly everyone should have learned in grade school. That’s patient paternalism x2: that only a doctor could be knowledgeable enough to recommend a good self-help book and that the government needs to legitimize this practice. “Bibliotherapy” is the technical term for reading a book and gaining something beneficial from it on a health or mental health level. It’s a self-help method that’s been around for many, many decades. Contrary to Price’s suggestion, it’s not new. The first research study conducted on bibliotherapy was in 1937 by Elizabeth Pomeroy who examined 1,500 patients in 62 Veterans Administration hospitals. There’s a large and rich research base of hundreds of studies demonstrating its effectiveness. Reading works. But even the Books on Prescription program in the UK is hardly new or newsworthy — it’s been around for years (McCulliss, 2012): The...
Source: World of Psychology - Category: Psychiatrists and Psychologists Authors: Tags: Books Disorders General Mental Health and Wellness Policy and Advocacy Professional Psychology Treatment Bibliotherapy Clay Tucker-Ladd Health Care Leah Price Mental Health Professional Reading A Book Reading Works Self Help Source Type: blogs