Intro to Bibliotherapy

Greek historian Diodorus Siculus in his work, Bibliotheca historica, records the oldest library motto in the world above the entrance to the royal chamber of the long-lived King Ramses II of Egypt: ψῡχῆς ἰατρεῖον on. Translated as: “the house of healing for the soul,” this encapsulates the high importance even ancient monarchs had for the healing power of a thoughtful book. Another modern example is the early American founding father, Dr. Benjamin Rush, who prescribed literature for his patients and favored their use in hospitals. This is an ancient supportive psychotherapy which is useful for patients who are undergoing inpatient, outpatient treatment, or anyone looking to keep their wits sharp during an anxious time. It can be religious or secular in nature but really should be something clever, rather than a simple comic or fantasy book (not that those also can’t be philosophical). Nurses and physicians should not shy away from recommending books to their patients.

Reflective content gathered from reading (Bibliotherapy) is enhanced when it is shared, more so than tacit knowledge. Tacit knowledge is defined by the American Psychological Association as: “knowledge that is informally acquired rather than explicitly taught and allows a person to succeed in certain environments and pursuits… Many everyday skills are of this kind, such as the ability to recognize faces or to speak one’s native language. Also called implicit knowledge; unconscious knowledge.” I see tacit knowledge as mostly physical, such as performing a venipuncture. But back to bibliotherapy, which I hope doesn’t sound like a snobby way to say self-help literature, because it’s really more expansive than that. Reading classic literature, which is not in the self-help genre or some CBT workbook, is bibliotherapy. So let’s start and reflect on some high yield writing that covers adolescence, where many of our psychological wounds emerge:

“Caroline Helstone was just eighteen years old, and at eighteen the true narrative of life is yet to be commenced. Before that time we sit listening to a tale, a marvellous fiction, delightful sometimes, and sad sometimes, almost always unreal. Before that time our world is heroic, its inhabitants half-divine or semi-demon; its scenes are dream-scenes; darker woods and stranger hills, brighter skies, more dangerous waters, sweeter flowers, more tempting fruits, wider plains, drearier deserts, sunnier fields than are found in nature, overspread our enchanted globe. What a moon we gaze on before that time! How the trembling of our hearts at her aspect bears witness to its unutterable beauty! As to our sun, it is a burning heaven—the world of gods.

At that time, at eighteen, drawing near the confines of illusive, void dreams, Elf-land lies behind us, the shores of Reality rise in front. These shores are yet distant; they look so blue, soft, gentle, we long to reach them. In sunshine we see a greenness beneath the azure, as of spring meadows; we catch glimpses of silver lines, and imagine the roll of living waters. Could we but reach this land, we think to hunger and thirst no more; whereas many a wilderness, and often the flood of death, or some stream of sorrow as cold and almost as black as death, is to be crossed ere true bliss can be tasted. Every joy that life gives must be earned ere it is secured; and how hardly earned, those only know who have wrestled for great prizes. The heart’s blood must gem with red beads the brow of the combatant, before the wreath of victory rustles over it.

At eighteen we are not aware of this. Hope, when she smiles on us, and promises happiness to-morrow, is implicitly believed; Love, when he comes wandering like a lost angel to our door, is at once admitted, welcomed, embraced. His quiver is not seen; if his arrows penetrate, their wound is like a thrill of new life. There are no fears of poison, none of the barb which no leech’s hand can extract. That perilous passion—an agony ever in some of its phases; with many, an agony throughout—is believed to be an unqualified good. In short, at eighteen the school of experience is to be entered, and her humbling, crushing, grinding, but yet purifying and invigorating lessons are yet to be learned.

Alas, Experience! No other mentor has so wasted and frozen a face as yours, none wears a robe so black, none bears a rod so heavy, none with hand so inexorable draws the novice so sternly to his task, and forces him with authority so resistless to its acquirement. It is by your instructions alone that man or woman can ever find a safe track through life’s wilds; without it, how they stumble, how they stray! On what forbidden grounds do they intrude, down what dread declivities are they hurled!”

Shirley, written by Charlotte Bronte in 1849.

So when applying an instructive passage to yourself I’ve outlined a structure borrowing from Lectio Divina. Catholics use this as a guide posts for meditating with biblical passages, but here we skip the oratio (prayer) and add scribo (write). It looks like this:

1. Lectio (Reading)
2. Meditatio (Meditation)
3. Scribo (Writing)
3. Contemplatio (Contemplation)

Reading:

Completing the first step is simple. As a voracious reader I don’t hold myself accountable to read every word. If I am dragging my feet getting through a paragraph in a book, I skip it. Reading is for fun and reflective content. So at this stage feel free to be a grammarian and examine every word, or merely get the gist. Radiologists look at hundreds if not a thousand images a shift. They cannot afford to spend too long in a series of images or they will fall behind in their consults, however it is vital for them to perform at a high level or they’ll miss a lesion or some other important malady. On the other hand, pathologists (and some studious oncologist/hematologists) can spend a sizeable amount of time on one slide studying cell morphology of a patient. To each their own; for different passages you select for bibliotherapy you may have a different approach. For bibliotherapy it is not a requirement to ponder on every word. There was a certain Baptist minister who would preach whole sermons on just one word. In contrast, the Puritan Joseph Caryl wrote 12 volumes, each hundreds of pages, on the singular story of Job. Wisdom can be bite sized or as large as tomes when it comes to its use as bibliotherapy. Read aloud if you wish.

Meditation:

This is where you’ll be flexing your inquisitive mind! Ask questions about the reading, criticize it, and apply it’s teachings to your own life. E.g. has being 18 changed at all from the 19th century to the 21st? Did you have a healthy fear in your teen years or were you also more naive? Do you agree with this pessimistic view of experience as a cruel master? Sometimes an open questions is an excellent stopping point.

Writing:

Writing really crystalizes teachings- especially for mental retrieval. With phones there are handy organization tools like notion, inotes, and others but the disadvantage of these aids is that absorbing helpful teachings is often replaced instead with shelving teachings for retrieval. This isn’t just semantics. Being able to access therapeutic thinking is much different than practicing therapeutic thinking. It’s like having water in a bottle rather than in your body. Write your favorite bits from a reading and notice how quickly your memory and self-image thank you for it. Meta studies since the 1990s show how writing is therapeutic for physical and emotional symptoms.

Contemplation:

Musing, or meditating, on a topic is different than contemplating it. Contemplation is the finish line: you’ve already reached the conclusions of your meditations and felt the impression of your handwriting. Gather the mental lessons in a little bundle and neatly tie up your bibliotherapy. Boiling down and summarizing your thoughts here is the last step. Congratulations on finishing your session!

In summary, you do not need a practitioner to do this supportive psychotherapy for your own mental health. It differs from simply reading self help literature as it applies truths, impressions, and realizations at a much deeper level in your psyche.

Sources:

Lutz, C. (1978). “The oldest Library Motto: ψῡχῆς Ἰατρεῖον”. The Library Quarterly. 48 (1). doi:10.1086/629993. JSTOR 4306897. S2CID 170968026.

McCulliss, D. (2012). “Bibliotherapy: Historical and research perspectives”. Journal of Poetry Therapy. 25 (1): 23–38. doi:10.1080/08893675.2012.654944. S2CID 145239329.