General Practice and Primary Care - Theses

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The readers’ view of using bibliotherapy to cope with depression

Usher, Tegan Maree ( 2015)

Depression is a common disorder, affecting one in four Australians. Many individuals experiencing depressive symptoms do not seek professional help partially due to limitations with current treatments. There is emerging interest in Bibliotherapy, which is the use of books to treat depression. The benefits of Bibliotherapy include being cost-effective and being less stigmatising. There are two main approaches to Bibliotherapy, Self-help and Creative Bibliotherapy. Self-help Bibliotherapy includes books based on cognitive behavioural therapy and have been shown to reduce symptoms of depression. Creative Bibliotherapy includes fiction, autobiographies and poetry but its effectiveness for depression is yet to be established. Although surveys have identified psychologist recommend Self-help Bibliotherapy to people experiencing depression, it is unclear which type of Bibliotherapy people experiencing depression actually use.