After the birth of my first child, I self-medicated through postpartum depression with Amy Tan novels. After my father died, “The Year of Magical Thinking” helped me navigate grief. I coped with the betrayal of false friends by meditating on Ecclesiastes.
Unbeknownst to me, I was practicing bibliotherapy, the ancient practice of prescribed reading for relief from anxiety or depression.
Bibliotherapy, the ancient practice of prescribed reading for relief from anxiety or depression, has been considered therapeutic for millennia.
A library in Ancient Greece inscribed “Healing—place of the soul” above the entrance.
In the 19th century, doctors and nurses in mental hospitals offered patients books as a means of easing nervous disorders.
Of course, at its worst, the cognitive dulling of depression doesn’t allow for a Netflix binge, let alone a few hours of reading. Friend and fellow writer Pamela Chanko shared,
“If I'm having an Episode with a capital E, one of the first things to go is my ability to read. In that case, I go for anything short including favorite children's books. Medium depression, comfort food like Jane Austen. Slight depression, moving prose like Welcome to the Goon Squad or Bee Season. The beauty of the language is just as cathartic as the stories are.”
An informal poll of friends resulted in the modest list below. Four genres are represented: Memoir, Fiction, Poetry and Spirituality, with quotes that may speak to what ails you, and entice you to read further.
Memoir
“Man’s Search for Meaning,” by Viktor E. Frankl
“Between stimulus and response, there is a space. In that space is our power to choose our response. In our response lies our growth and our freedom.”
“Willow Weep for Me: A Black Woman's Journey Through Depression,” by Meri Nana-Ama Danquah
“The illusion of strength has been and continues to be of major significance to me as a black woman. The one myth that I have had to endure my entire life is that of my supposed birthright to strength. Black women are supposed to be strong—caretakers, nurturers, healers of other people—any of the twelve dozen variations of Mammy. Emotional hardship is supposed to be built into the structure of our lives.”
“Darkness Visible: A Memoir of Madness,” by William Styron
“One of the century’s most famous intellectual pronouncements comes at the beginning of The Myth of Sisyphus: 'There is but one truly serious philosophical problem, and that is suicide. Judging whether life is or is not worth living amounts to answering the fundamental question of philosophy.'”
Fiction
“The Shipping News,” by E. Annie Proulx
“If a piece of knotted string can unleash the wind and if a drowned man can awaken ... then I believe a broken man can heal.”
“Crossing to Safety,” by Wallace Stegner
“You can plan all you want to. You can lie in your morning bed and fill whole notebooks with schemes and intentions. But within a single afternoon, within hours or minutes, everything you plan and everything you have fought to make yourself can be undone as a slug is undone when salt is poured on him. And right up to the moment when you find yourself dissolving into foam you can still believe you are doing fine.”
“The Kitchen God's Wife,” by Amy Tan
“If someone offers to take your burden, you need to know he is serious, not just being polite and kind. Polite and kind do not last.”
Poetry
“Conflict Resolution for Holy Beings: Poems,” by Joy Harjo
“Acknowledge this earth who has cared for you since you were
a dream planting itself precisely within your parents’ desire.”
“Morning Poems,” by Robert Bly
“It’s good if you can accept your life—you’ll notice
Your face has become deranged trying to adjust
To it. Your face thought your life would look
Like your bedroom mirror when you were ten.
That was a clear river touched by mountain wind.
Even your parents can’t believe how much you’ve
changed.”
Spirituality
“Heaven, the Heart's Deepest Longing,” by Peter Kreeft
“'Thy will be done' is the infallible road to total joy. It is testable and provable in daily and hourly experience. Time after time, active willing God's will, 'Yes' to God, leads out of meaninglessness, passivity, depression, or sorrow into joy. And time after time the pursuit of joy as if it were mine leads to disappointment, emptiness, and restless boredom. Life teaches us by millions of repetitions, yet we need millions more. Every time we truly say, 'Thy will be done', we find joy and peace; every time we die, we rise.”
“Anger: Wisdom for Cooling the Flames,” by Thich Nhat Hanh
“Breathe in deeply to bring your mind home to your body. Then look at, or think of, the person triggering this emotion: With mindfulness, you can see that she is unhappy, that she is suffering. You can see her wrong perceptions. You can see that she is not beautiful when she says things that are unkind.”
The blog Tolstoy Therapy offers an extensive bibliotherapy reading list. Would you like a personalized list, tailor-made to your interests and specific emotional challenges? Seek the help of a certified bibliotherapist here.
Sources:
Being there: the library as place*. NCBI.hlm.nih.gov. Retrieved October 8, 2015.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC314099
Can Reading Make you Happier. NewYorker.com. Retrieved October 8, 2015.
http://www.newyorker.com/culture/cultural-comment/can-reading-make-you-happier
Reviewed October 9, 2015
by Michele Blacksberg RN
Edited by Jody Smith