Your best CHAPTER

READING MAY BE A SOLO ACTIVITY, BUT THE BENEFITS OF ESCAPING INTO A WRITER’S WORLD IS A GUARANTEED MOOD LIFTER

Love a page-turner? According to the therapeutic art known as bibliotherapy, fiction and non-fiction books – including poetry, essays, short stories, and self-development guides – can help us heal, transform our quality of life, and understand ourselves on a much deeper level.

The term bibliotherapy, which originates from the Greek words for book “biblion” and healing “therapeia”, links back to the philosopher Aristotle, who believed literature had healing benefits, and that reading book was a way of treating illness. In fact, ancient Greeks placed inscriptions over library entrances, stating the building was a “healing place for the soul”.

Bibliotherapist Sonya Tsakalakis, the founder of The Literary Hand, says that within the pages of books lie practical tools that we can use as inspiration and support for personal issues we’re facing.

“Stories can help us recognise that we’re not alone in what we’re going through and that others know exactly how we feel, which is often a focus for the healing process.”

Therapeutic fiction

This is a phenomenon researchers call “experience taking” where, while reading a story, we find ourselves feeling the emotions, thoughts, beliefs, and internal responses of one of the characters as if they’re our own. In the right situations, it may lead to real changes, if only temporary, in our lives.