How Books Can Help Us Heal
Healing through books.
What immediately comes to mind is reading about
different methods of holist therapy but that is not what I am referring to. Reading can be a pathway to self-discovery. I have always been attracted to reading other people’s stories. Whether or not these people were real or fictional never mattered to me. It just needed to be a story that I could relate to. Initially, I thought that this love for reading provided me with an escape from my day-to-day stresses. You know the ones that I am referring to, the daily routine of getting the kids up, getting them off to school, rushing to work, being overworked, underpaid, and under-appreciated, rushing to pick up the kids, rushing back home, throwing together a meal, preparing the kids and yourself to go to bed, and getting up the next day and doing it all over again. After all of this, I have always found some peace in squeezing in a few minutes of “me time” to read a book. In fact, this has become a necessity in order for me to maintain my sanity. As a social worker and psychotherapist, I have learned that there are other benefits to reading, the main one being the connection factor. There have been many times that I have met characters in novels that I co uld connect to, the characters whose experiences bear some resemblance to your own. I found myself offering these
characters advice, cautions, I know what you mean’s, and I told you so’s. I have even found myself becoming so concerned with their lives that I regret leaving them to attend to the “real world” and look forward to returning to them to hear what happens next (the same way I eagerly call my girlfriends when I know that there is a new development in their lives).
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This connection with the character is the key to why books are therapeutic. When we hear other stories that remind us of our own, we are reminded that we are not alone. We no longer feel alienated, like we are strange, or screw ups because we should have known better. We can say, “Wow, what happened to me could happen to anyone.” There is also the added benefit to see how issues that overwhelm us are, in fact, resolvable. I am not saying that we find all the answers but we do find some degree of resolution to life as we knew it before the conflict arose. A book being therapeutic is not such a novel (no pun intended) idea. People have been sharing their experiences through literature for centuries, hoping to bring some meaning to others who encounter similar experiences. However, people do not always recognize the therapeutic value of reading books. A book doesn’t have to be as direct as a biography of a survivor of childhood abuse. Something as common as a novel about a romantic relationship can shed light on our own relationship patterns. Book clubs enhance this therapeutic process of increasing insight through reading. Through book clubs, members highlight specific themes and patterns in literature and offer various perspectives and interpretations that may otherwise be overlooked by a single reader. There is the added value of finding others who also share similar
experiences that an individual may connect with. If finding a character in a book that is going through experiences similar to your own is beneficial, imagine finding an entire group of real live people. Lastly, book clubs encourage discussion. We are able to talk about topics we may not normally discuss. The relief of sharing an experience has numerous therapeutic benefits. This type of sharing may be viewed as less threatening
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than traditional support groups where there is a stigma attached to being part of a therapy group. The availability of book clubs is increasing, which may be attributed to the idea that those involved are benefiting and the demand is increasing. For more information about the benefits of book clubs, contact:
Keisha Cox, LCSW, MS 10 Fiske Place Room 411 Mount Vernon, NY 10550 914-729-2038 keishacoxlcsw@yahoo.com
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