2023-12-06 04:19:00
Bibliotherapy, an effective tool in the field of mental health, uses literature as a means to confront fears, uncertainties and emotional challenges in children (iStock)
When a publisher asked me to write a children’s story, I remember exactly the moment when a story from now and a children’s song from when I was very little came to mind:
I have a doll dressed in blue
with his little shirt and his yoke.
I took her for a walk, she caught a cold,
I put her to bed with a lot of pain…
I finally included this song in my book “The Frayed Girl,” regarding the prevention of sexual violence.
Where in my memory was that song waiting to be used?
Long before being able to read on their own, boys and girls have already experienced fantastic stories, songs, movies, poems and even commercial advertisements that connect them with the sensitive world of words.
The story of a reader begins in his earliest childhood. From there an emotional and aesthetic relationship begins to be built with the words and later with the letters. The lullaby of lullabies, litanies and bedtime stories begin to be inextricably associated with literature.
Clinical, rehabilitative and educational bibliotherapy are different applications of this practice that uses literature to support recovery and personal development in different contexts (Illustrative image Infobae)
My eldest son always remembers a part of a rhymed poem from a book that I read to them frequently, when they were very little: “Pilú and the colors.” What remains in his memory is the feeling that, in the story, following the color violet came black and the weather changed and something a little scary began:
Black is the crow and black is the panther
And black the oil that is so long awaited…
My other son does not have this feeling, in fact, he does not even remember that story but rather others that were important to him.
Reading is always an intimate act, even if it is shared with another, because it is a very subjective relationship of the reader with what is told and the functions and affects that they provoke and in these early experiences the formation of the reader begins and can also be found a support for mental health.
There are various studies that consider the use of prescribed literature in the field of mental health as a tool to confront the fears, uncertainties and detachments of children in their daily lives. These books can also serve as predictors of problems they are going through. The identification of boys and girls with the different characters encourages them to talk regarding their feelings and experiences and reach help in time or recover lost health.
It is important to offer tools from early childhood that allow children to develop and understand their emotional and social skills, with books as a starting point (Getty Images)
When the economic crisis had taken hold in British society, the Society of Chief Librarians together with the Ministry of Culture promoted four strategic proposals aimed at the creation and maintenance of basic services that all public libraries should offer. It is in this context that the Reading Well Books on Prescription program was born in 2013.
Its objective was to help people better manage their mental health and well-being through a series of reading recommendations, previously selected by specialists for public libraries. The prescription of these books might be done through health-related services and associations or by going directly to the library.
It was regarding making the most of the knowledge of health professionals and the opportunities provided by the public library. Although this project was aimed at people over 18 years of age in principle, I always thought it would be interesting to also offer a collection of titles for babies, children and adolescents with themes related to mental health.
Children’s books can address many of the emotional, behavioral, and learning challenges that babies, boys, and girls face every day.
The Reading Well Books on Prescription program, an initiative that emphasizes the role of reading in managing mental well-being, extends its reach to children and adolescents with specialized collections (Illustrative image Infobae)
Books not only accompany and stimulate imagination and creativity, but also help in childhood to name and understand feelings and experiences that children go through and perhaps cannot or do not know who to talk to.
He Child Mind Institute has a collection of 77 popular books on mental health, learning disorders, and other common challenges, such as coping with painful experiences and managing intense emotions. This collection includes books for children up to 12 years old, from illustrated works for reading with young children to chapters for independent readers.
Although there are various experiences of libraries for babies developed within the framework of Initial Education, and a diversity of works on how to organize them and what type of materials to select, there are few public libraries that have thought regarding opening their doors to the little ones. For a few years now, some libraries, knowing this, have incorporated special rooms for babies, also called bebetecas.
The importance of baby books lies in early sensory stimulation and the promotion of the love of reading with a playful approach. In addition, they promote neurodevelopment, creativity, personality, creative imagination, communication and interpersonal relationships and that is promotion of mental health.
The focus of libraries on creating collections of books prescribed to address mental health problems in childhood and adolescence is a preventive and intervention strategy
There are beautiful books that work on topics such as discrimination, violence, trauma, grief and death for boys and girls of all ages.
The term bibliotherapy refers to a wide variety of clinical and non-clinical interventions that use books or texts to benefit people through reading and discussion. It was first used in September 1916, in an article written by Samuel McChord Crothers, “A Literary Clinic,” published in The Atlantic Monthly.
In the clinical context, most scientific literature defines bibliotherapy as the use of readings – books or written materials – with a therapeutic objective. Although it can be used in different health problems or diseases, it is frequently used in mental health and emotional disorders, particularly when the symptoms are mild or moderate. (Galician Agency for Health Knowledge (ACIS)).
Mora Naranjo and other authors in an article (“Bibliotherapy as a help tool applied by the information professional from the framework of the school library: case studies”, University of Costa Rica, 2017) distinguish three types of bibliotherapy in the educative area:
The story of a reader begins in their earliest childhood with the first stories, songs, movies, poems and even commercials that connect them with the sensitive world of words (Getty Images)
1. Clinical bibliotherapy, which is applied exclusively by medical personnel as an additional method of treatment. It usually develops in institutions that care for patients with mental, emotional and physical illnesses.
2. Rehabilitative bibliotherapy, which is applied to help patients adapt following having gone through difficulties during their illness, give them greater hope for their recovery, assume physical changes related to their new situation or identify, recognize and accept their emotions. Unlike the previous one, it can be applied by librarians or health professionals. It can be carried out in hospitals or libraries.
3. Educational bibliotherapy, which is used not only with patients recovering from an illness, because it is related to personality development, identification of a problem or prevention of problems or disorders. It can be applied by social services professionals such as librarians, teachers or social workers. It is possible to work on it from educational centers, libraries, youth centers or in patients’ homes.
The same authors also distinguish four fields of action:
– Educational field. Bibliotherapy is applied by teachers, psychologists, counselors or social workers to improve the academic performance of students, prevent or solve conflicts related to the teaching-learning process or improve attitude.
The term bibliotherapy refers to a wide variety of clinical and non-clinical interventions that use books or texts to benefit people through reading and discussion (Getty Images)
– Health field. It is applied by health professionals such as doctors, nurses, psychologists or psychiatrists in health centers (mainly hospitals) as a therapeutic tool that enables patients to better cope with the effects of the disease, help them fight once morest it, rehabilitate themselves or maintain a positive attitude. more positive.
– Psychological field. It is applied by professionals in the field of psychology to improve mental disorders such as depression.
– Library technology field. It is applied by library science professionals from the library (which can be public, private, educational or hospital), always together with an interdisciplinary group of professionals (teachers, doctors, psychologists, counselors) (“In addition to the word. Interdisciplinary approaches to literary studies” Alicante, Miguel de Cervantes Virtual Library, 2019).
The creation of spaces such as baby libraries in libraries is an effort to bring the little ones closer to the world of books and promote their neurocognitive and emotional development (iStock)
The importance of mental health in the early years is often overlooked, which is why it is necessary to offer tools from babies that allow them to develop and understand their emotional and social skills. Books can be a good starting point to promote psychological well-being.
Although it does not replace consultation with a specialist, books that deal with mental health issues that affect boys and girls are usually of great help.
Recommending books is a great action but creating collections in libraries with prescription books to deal with mental health problems in childhood and adolescence can help prevent pathologies due to the possibility it provides of speaking in time, intervening at the moment in which a child or girl is going through this situation, ask for help and prevent conditions that sometimes go unnoticed by the adult world but cause pain.
* Sonia Almada has a degree in Psychology from the University of Buenos Aires. She has an International Master’s degree in Human Rights for women and children, gender and domestic violence (UNESCO). She specialized in childhood and youth in Latin America (CLACSO). In 2003, she founded the civil association Aralma, which promotes actions to eradicate all types of violence once morest children, youth and families. She is the author of three books: The Frayed Girl, I Like the Way I Am, and The Girl in the Bell Tower.
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