Literary Prescriptions: Applying Bibliotherapy in a Psychotherapeutic Context

Abstract

Bibliotherapy, a relatively underutilized lifestyle intervention in psychotherapy, is a unique cost-effective avenue of treatment that empowers patients by integrating therapeutic reading into their treatment plan. This approach strategically uses empirically validated cognitive-behavioral and self-help literature to facilitate the application of therapeutic topics outside of psychotherapy sessions. Bibliotherapy's range of administration styles highlights its potential as an adjunct to medication, psychotherapy, and/or healthy lifestyle interventions in a comprehensive treatment plan. Most meta-analyses conducted so far regarding bibliotherapy in a clinical setting consist of studies that use minimal patient interaction via short phone calls or emails. Despite this, meta-analyses show medium-to-large effect sizes that are comparable to traditional psychotherapy modalities for common disorders, most notably depression. This article explores the practical implementation of bibliotherapy research via an example psychotherapy session with a patient who has a diagnosis of major depressive disorder (MDD). An evidence-based reading list is proposed alongside a decision tree and actionable clinical insights for the effective implementation of bibliotherapy.

Keywords: Bibliotherapy; psychotherapy.

FIGURE 1.

Implementation strategies for bibliotherapy