Could your beach reads actually be therapeutic? Bibliotherapy suggests they might

The novels Book Boyfriend, Atmosphere and Can't Get Enough might be in your stack of beach reads, but are they good for your mental health?

While reading a novel and escaping into a fictional world can be enjoyable, those who study and practice bibliotherapy, the use of written materials as a form of treatment for mental health conditions, suggest there are aspects of reading that can measurably improve our well-being.

It's not a new concept. Though the term bibliotherapy was coined in a 1916 article by American essayist and minister Samuel McChord Crothers, American psychiatrists and other physicians as far back as the early 1800s argued that reading benefited their patients and pushed for hospitals to include libraries.

In more recent times, bibliotherapy refers to things like self-help books and workbooks that clinical therapists can direct patients to read or complete to improve their mental health. Researchers are now exploring how creative bibliotherapy can use novels, poetry, plays or even picture books to achieve the same result.

Hoi Cheu, a trained marriage and family therapist and professor at the School of Liberal Arts at Laurentian University in Sudbury, Ont., uses bibliotherapy to help patients cope with challenges such as loneliness.

He says for bibliotherapy to work, the therapist needs to learn what he called "the story of the patient."

Many who practice clinical bibliotherapy ask patients to find readings that interest them, then observe how they respond to the literature, he said in an email.

Cheu, whose PhD thesis was titled Zen and the Art of James Joyce, likened the use of creative bibliotherapy to the practice of Chinese herbal medicine.

"In short, reading literature is a process, and the readings are tools, not drugs."

Cheu says literary bibliotherapy works because it allows readers to use stories to figure out how to repair their own dysfunctional narratives.

But simply reading a book may not be enough to improve our well-being, according to James Carney, an associate professor at the London Interdisciplinary School in the U.K.

Carney, who has used a series of small experiments and questionnaires to study what makes creative bibliotherapy helpful, says he's found that the discussion of the reading material is more beneficial than the act of reading itself.

For example, he says it helps if patients can reflect on the material they've just read with a therapist or group to tease out how it may be relevant to their situation.

"What happens is a book gains its impact in conversation," Carney said. "You discuss what you've read. You reflect upon what you've read in a way that is socially activated. That typically has the main impact."

Dr. Judith Laposa, a psychologist at Toronto's Centre for Addiction and Mental Health, says self-help books, a common form of bibliotherapy, can help those with mild to moderate depression understand their thoughts, feelings and behaviours.

"It can be a really helpful starting point, and for some people, in and of itself, it's sufficient," Laposa said. "But for other people, that may be the first step of a broader mental health journey that also may involve mental health professionals."

In Ontario, Laposa says the provincially funded structured psychotherapy program to treat anxiety and mood-related conditions served about 23,000 individuals last year. The program includes guided bibliotherapy, where a clinician assists in recommending self-help exercises as part of the treatment.

Laposa says she's found the self-help form of bibliotherapy useful as she looks for ways to supplement sessions with her patients, because she says the literature often includes different characters describing challenges they face.

"Many people … can see themselves in a lot of those descriptions and that can help them feel less alone," she said.

Carney says creative bibliotherapy, which uses fiction rather than self-help, can be helpful because it allows people to indirectly examine difficult topics in a safe, fictional space.

He suggests that fiction gives us "a way of engaging with troubling scenarios in such a manner that we are not directly strategically involved in them."

Carney gave an example of having somebody going through marital difficulties reading a novel about a troubled marriage. He says this could allow the reader to see the unpleasant experience in a different perspective by experiencing it in a fictional setting where it's not directly threatening.

"We can play in the sandbox, but we're not stuck there," Carney said. "We get to kind of do dress rehearsals, if you like, for bad things that can happen to us."

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Carney is open to the idea that creative bibliotherapy promotes mental well-being. But as a data-driven researcher, he says much depends on the person, the book and how they engage with it.

That might take the form of one-on-one therapy, traditional in-person book clubs, or discussion on social media sites like Reddit, which has threads devoted to books, or TikTok, with its literature-focused community known as BookTok.

Both Laposa and Carney cautioned about possible harms that could result from the therapy, such as books containing material that could be triggering for those with eating disorders or addiction issues.

But Cheu, the Sudbury therapist and professor who prescribes bibliotherapy, says any tool can be misused.

"I believe that, if used properly, bibliotherapy may avoid triggering more effectively than most other psychotherapy techniques."