The one stress reliever that's better than exercise, music or fresh air

If you’ve walked into a bookstore lately, you can’t help but see the shelves stocked full of self-help guides. Feeling lonely and overwhelmed? There’s a self-help book for that. Want to boost your self-esteem so you can land that dream job? There’s one for that, too. But a book doesn’t have to be a step-by-step guide to help us get over a slump. In fact, researchers are now discovering what the ancient Greeks knew centuries ago—reading good literature works just as well. Sure, fiction may not change your habits in a few easy steps as many guides today promise but it can teach and motivate you at the same time—all in an engaging way. “Books are ‘silent therapists,’” says Natalia Tukhareli, author of Healing Through Books: The Evolution and Diversification of Bibliotherapy. “Countries worldwide have already fully embraced it while Canada is taking first steps.”

Bibliotherapy is a broad term for the ancient practice of encouraging reading for therapeutic purposes. It encompasses everything from literature courses run for prison inmates to reading circles for the elderly in long-term care facilities. The concept is simple—reading fiction encourages personal change. In fact, studies show it’s an effective way to improve well being and also has the potential to address a broad range of mental, emotional, physical, and social issues—from fighting a mild depression to dealing with poverty, loneliness, anxiety, grief or even addictions.

Psychologists, therapists, physicians, counselors and librarians the world over are active bibliotherapists and their numbers increase every years as research clearly shows that reading is a more effective stress reliever than say, listening to music, going for a walk, or even sitting down with a good cup of coffee. “If you have a life crisis, bibiliotherapy is great,” says Hoi Cheu, a literature and film professor at Laurentian University and member of the Canadian Applied Literature Association. These days, Cheu spends his days working with medical students, social workers, therapists and palliative-care researchers—teaching and researching the art of literary healing. “It’s not simply reading for it’s own sake because it can be partially curative for several mental health issues,” says Cheu.

“It benefits everyone on some level,” he argues. “When people read Harry Potter, for instance, they are not just escaping to Potter's magical world; they are learning about friendship, justice, love, parenting, taking responsibility, coping with change, dealing with loss, and celebrating life. One may say that Harry Potter is not specifically about [anxiety, depression or grief] but it is indeed relevant to every one of them. That's bibliotherapy.”

Canadian author Joseph Gold talked about this same phenomenon in his 2001 work Read for Your Life, a book that helps readers learn how to read for the greatest pleasure and growth. He spoke at Toronto libraries to get his book’s message across and that message was simple, yet profound. “If you read a story that really involves you, your body will tell you that you are living through the experience. You will recognize feelings that have physical signs—increased heart rate, sweaty palms, or calm, relaxed breathing and so on, depending on your mood. These effects are the same you would feel in similar real-life experiences—fear, anger, interest, joy, shame or sadness. Amazingly, you can actually ‘live’ experience without moving anything but your eyes across a page.” The lesson is clear? Reading good literature is a life support system you never outgrow.

So what does a typical bibliotherapy session look like? It can often be a read-aloud session where a facilitator (such as a therapist, social worker or trained librarian) reads a selection of literary works that correspond with a particular issue that an individual or a group wants to address. The reading, which may include everything from short stories to poetry and non-fiction, is followed by a guided group discussion as well as journal writings based on the relevance of the content and its helpfulness in providing insight into the problem to be resolved. “It can even involve using films and going to the theatre—something even psychiatrists and therapists are doing now,” says Cheu.

In Europe, bibliotherapy is racing ahead by leaps and bounds. It’s now more popular than music or art therapy and it’s key benefit comes in using books as a way of educating patients and individuals on health issues—either one-on-one with a therapist, or in groups at a local community center or medical library. Tukhareli, who is currently a librarian at the Health Sciences Library at the Rouge Valley Health System and Founder and Executive Director of the Read to Connect organization in Toronto says it’s highly effective. “Bibliotherapy helps people cope with life situations and empowers them to change their lives for the better,” says Tukhareli. She’s seen this firsthand while running reading groups with homeless women in shelters. Over a period of a few weekly reading sessions at non-profit organizations in Toronto, these women were able to find jobs, go back to school and be well on the road to a successful life. “It provides an alternative way of advancing health issues without medications, and can be flexible and cost-effective,” says Tukhareli.

And while bibliotherapy has evolved over the years, it still focuses on books that are selected to address a specific issue. In Canada health libraries and non-profit groups for people who’ve faced mental health challenges are starting to spring up. “The time is right for this in Canada,” says Cheu. “As the population ages, longevity increases and people have more time to read, they will use the library more and more for community engagement. That’s healthy.”

But whether it’s through a clinical setting with a physician or therapist—or at what may soon be an up-and-coming bibliotherapy session or film group at a local library—the simple art of telling and sharing stories might just prove to be the balm that heals all wounds. Now that’s an empowering thought.

9 books to make you feel better

If you’ve experienced a series of calamities in your life, here are a few of Cheu’s book recommendations to help you get through it.

1. Grief from the death of a loved one: Beat the Turtle Drum by Constance Greene 

2. Isolation because you are a new immigrant, alone in a new country: The Joy Luck Club by Amy Tan

3. Poverty: Drifting House by Krys Lee

4. Homelessness: The Grass Arena by John Healy

5. Obsessive compulsive disorder: Confessions of a Shopaholic by Sophie Kinsella

6. Depression or anxiety: Cider with Rosie by Laurie Lee

7. Struggling with an inability to create original work: Imagine: How Creativity Works by Jonah Lehrer or Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man by James Joyce

8. Recently divorced: Ordinary People by Judith Guest

9.  The desire to be a new mom or new dad: The Munschworks Grand Treasury by Robert Munsch

(There is no greater way to prepare for becoming new parents than getting back into children's perspectives after years of socialization to be adults).