The therapeutic effect of books: how reading helps to strengthen mental health, and poetry helps to rehabilitate convicts in society

Vytautas Meška, the most famous Lithuanian resort expert, doctor, from Biršton, spoke about the importance of taking into account not only physiological aspects, but also good mental health. He was also one of the first to talk about bibliotherapy - attention to thinking about existential topics and reading books, delving into the texts, thus helping the patient to relax and rest the mind.

The pandemic has led to the "treatment" of reading

Bibliotherapy is therapeutic reading that affects the human psyche, and through it, the physical condition of a person. One of the speakers of the conference, the head of the Lithuanian National Martynas Mažvydas Library. researcher dr. Daiva Janavičienė distinguishes three types of bibliotherapy: clinical, rehabilitation and personality development. Clinical bibliotherapy is applied by psychotherapists and doctors. They select appropriate books, monitor the patient's behavior based on what he reads, how he understands what he reads, and how he feels.

Rehabilitation therapy is applied in health institutions. It is based on the fact that during intensive medical treatment, patients have a lot of time, which they are often not used to managing. One of the ways to spend that time purposefully is to involve patients in reading: to offer selected books recommended by specialists that touch on the patient's actual problem.

Bibliotherapy of personality development is intended for people's relaxation, recognition of existential problems through texts, being with others, discussing books and reading texts in groups. For example, as soon as the pandemic started, it became clear that psychological aspects and helping people are very important, especially when living in isolation for a while. Also, at that time, the use of anti-depressants increased dramatically worldwide, leading to the search for alternative methods of treatment, such as group meetings (remote and live) and book discussions. Such reading clubs are popular all over the world, they talk about literature as an object that affects people and what was important and interesting in the book - a quote, a character or a plot line. Participants hear each other's opinions, support each other, and this has been proven to be therapeutic.

Surveys of the last 3 years show that the following books and their discussions left the greatest impression on Lithuanian readers from book discussions that have already taken place: "Apples fell from the sky" (published by Narine Abgaryan, 2022), "Enlightened" (published by Tara Weston, 2020), "The Choice: Personal Experiences of the Holocaust" (edited by Edith Eger, 2021).

Poetry is a tool for working with convicts

The topic of poetry therapy will also be presented at the conference. According to Klaipėda University professor and psychiatrist Jūratė Sučylaitė, it is necessary for people who have survived mental trauma, who suffer from grief after the loss of a loved one, who are experiencing social exclusion, who have disabling diseases. For healthy people, poetry therapy helps them pause, discover this moment and a sense of community, develops the ability to speak authentically, vividly. In her practice, the professor applies the works of Lithuanian poets - poems by V. Mykolaitis-Putin, E. Janušaitis, H. Nagios, D. Kajok. It is important that the participants of the therapeutic group can emotionally identify with the lyrical subject, and the text should be easy to understand.
Poetry therapy is one of the methods for working with socially vulnerable groups and convicts. Iluta Dreimanė, a music therapist and probation officer of the Latvian State Probation Service, will speak about this at the conference. Poetry therapy was applied to work with prisoners in Liepaja prison, which not only stimulated the creative self-expression of prisoners, developed the ability to cooperate, express feelings and thoughts in a socially acceptable way, but also reduced the feeling of isolation, encouraged the search for internal resources, and increased self-esteem.
At the conference, you will also get to know Vocology - an authentic sound therapy program, which was created after the Birštonas Public Library implemented the project "Vocology - help with your voice" financed by the Lithuanian Culture Council and Birštonas municipality, in cooperation with Laura Budreckyte, a composer, jazz vocalist, music therapist and native of Birštonas. During the therapy, the combination of voice, music and improvisation will help you to know your emotions, to get rid of stress and anxiety.

The 6th bibliotherapy conference "A book can talk and heal" will be held on October 14, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., in Kurhaus, B. Sruogos st. 2, Birštonas.