Mental health concerns, like anxiety, depression and post-traumatic stress disorder, can affect a student’s ability to concentrate, form friendships and thrive in the classroom. Educators and school counselors often provide Social and Emotional Learning programs (SEL) in order to help these students, as well as school-based therapeutic support groups. However, even in these forums, getting teenagers to speak about their problems can be challenging, especially when they feel like outsiders and worry about judgment from their peers.
For adolescents struggling with depression, anxiety and grief, the use of books as a therapeutic tool can be invaluable. Tweens and teens often get stuck in their narratives, believing that the fictional stories they tell themselves are accurate. Because of the insecurities that adolescence can bring, it’s easy for them to assume that being excluded from a peer’s birthday party or being left out of a group text exchange is a personal affront. Social media often fuel these beliefs, which can take a toll on a youth’s mental health. Shame and stigma often prevent students from speaking out and seeking the emotional support they need.
But reading about a fictional character’s experiences can normalize those feelings and give adolescents the courage to open up about their own struggles.
While studies show DBT is an effective form of psychotherapy, especially for young adults, bibliotherapy is a newer mental health intervention for youth. However, research suggests it can help reduce symptoms of anxiety and depression, especially among adolescents.
Anita Cellucci, a school librarian at Westborough High School in Westborough, Massachusetts, offers tips to school librarians who wish to begin a bibliotherapy program:
- Create material displays that demonstrate awareness, cultural diversity and student voice (materials developed by students and/or with student input).
- Facilitate schoolwide events that promote literacy through diversity, breaking mental health stigma and inviting students to share their voices.
- Write grants to bring SEL-related programs that include poetry slams, reflective writing and community art.
- Collaborate with the school’s counseling department to design SEL and bibliotherapy programs.
- Pursue training in youth mental health education through Youth Mental Health First Aid and National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI).
Excerpted from “How Bibliotherapy Can Help Students Open Up About Their Mental Health.” Read the full article on KQED’s MindShift online.
Source: KQED MindShift | How Bibliotherapy Can Help Students Open Up About Their Mental Health, https://www.kqed.org/mindshift/50642/how-bibliotherapy-can-help-students-open-up-about-their-mental-health | Copyright © 2018. Last revised January 2025.
