Using Books in Clinical Social Work Practice: A Guide to Bibliotherapy

Using Books in Clinical Social Work Practice: A Guide to Bibliotherapy introduces clinical social workers and other helping professionals to bibliotherapy, an innovative approach to helping individuals deal with psychological, social, and developmental problems. Literally meaning “treatment through books,” bibliotherapy actively involves the client in the therapeutic process through the reading of carefully selected and evaluated books. With this guide, the therapy you give will provide information and insight, stimulate discussion, communicate new values and attitudes, create awareness that others have similar problems, and provide solutions to problems. Using Books in Clinical Social Work Practice offers a detailed approach for helping clinicians use bibliotherapy in practice. You’ll discover which types of problems best respond to bibliotherapy and you’ll learn how to select the most effective books to treat those problems. You’ll even find the structure of the book helpful, as it:

• introduces you to the basics of bibliotherapy
• provides a detailed examination of the techniques for using books in treatment
• reviews and analyzes the extensive research that has been conducted on bibliotherapy
• focuses on the problems most effectively treated with bibliotherapy--divorce and remarriage, dysfunctional families, parenting, adoption and foster care, self-development, serious illness, substance abuse
• offers an authoritative guide to over 300 books found to work most effectively--including summaries and levels of interest
• presents conclusions and a summary for the use of books in treatmentAlthough bibliotherapy is a well-established practice technique in other professions, including psychiatry and psychology, social work practitioners have not traditionally used bibliotherapy as part of their practice. Using Books in Clinical Social Work Practice gives today’s helping professional an approach to problem solving that you and your clients will find refreshing and effective.

Jean A Pardeck