Doctors in Britain are experimenting with a new form of therapy to fight depression that involves reading books. It’s called bibliotherapy and the goal is to help people overcome their disorders by prescribing self-help books including: Overcoming Depression, Mind Over Mood, or The Feeling Good Handbook.
According to a report in The Boston Globe, this new form of therapy goes beyond doctor’s offices. In fact, some booksellers and curating reading lists for people to help them cure their depression. Check it out:
In London, a painter, a poet, and a former bookstore manager have teamed up to offer over-the-counter “bibliotherapy consultations”: after being quizzed about their literary tastes and personal problems, the worried well-heeled pay 80 pounds for a customized reading list. At the Reading Agency, a charity that developed and administers Books on Prescription, a second program called Mood-Boosting Books recommends fiction and poetry. The NHS’s public health and mental health budgets also fund nonprofits such as The Reader Organization, which gathers people who are unemployed, imprisoned, old, or just lonely to read poems and fiction aloud to one another.