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| Ginger Rogers. For more pics, click here. |
I enjoy blog hops and The Blue Bookcase has asked a great question this week:
Question: Discuss Bibliotherapy. Do you believe literature can be a viable form of therapy? Is literary writing more or less therapeutic than pop lit or nonfiction?
My thoughts: I could ramble on and on about how I feel reading is an extremely effective tool for therapy, and I think we all feel strongly about that. Sure, you could pick up a self-help book and identify your trigger mechanisms contributing to poor choices, depression, bad relationships, etc., but I don't look at those books as the right tool generally speaking for the purposes of this conversation. Oftentimes, what a person can truly need is pure distraction from the events that might be occurring in their lives, whether they are monumental or are simply slight challenges that worry their minds. Either way, reading is effective, and incorporating writing into the process becomes even more cathartic.
And let's be honest - it doesn't have to be considered "high-brow, stodgy upper-crust literature" to be effective. Women's fiction, contemporary fiction, chick lit, whatever we want to call it - aren't those great distraction methods while at the beach and whiling away our time? And what about Young Adult books? Aren't those also an excellent example that children can go through horrible things, and reading and writing becomes their only outlet and salvation? I always get annoyed with the controversies and brouhahas over Young Adult books being too expressive or graphic, or "not suitable." It doesn't really make sense to me since after all, to read about another person going through the same thing makes you one of many, right? I will always state that we are never truly alone if we have a book.
