Introduction

Humans are said to be natural storytellers. Narrative brings a structure to communication that helps to make sense of the world around us. The recognition of the importance of stories and the use of narrative can be seen in many aspects of bibliotherapy, which may recommend the reading of fictional and autobiographical narratives to gain insight and improve mental health and wellbeing. But it is not only mental health that can benefit. Patients with physical illnesses may find meaning and understanding in reading autobiographical accounts of others who have undergone and articulated similar experiences to them. Illness narratives and narrative medicine are well theorized within the sociological and clinical literature, but have rarely been examined in relation to the use of bibliotherapy in practice. Looking at illness narratives and the theories around them may help to expand understandings of bibliotherapy by identifying how other texts may be used to benefit to health and wellbeing.

Stories can also be used to help medical professionals to understand the illness experience from a patient perspective. In medicine, narrative forms the core of the interaction between a clinician and a patient, telling the story of an illness and, in some cases, its resolution. Narrative medicine uses these patient stories, or stories written by clinicians about their experiences with patients and their treatment, to engage audiences including other patients and clinicians (Greenhalgh and Hurwitz, 1999). This narrative medicine can be seen as a form of bibliotherapy in clinical practice, increasing understanding and knowledge about a particular mental or physical health condition and helping to increase communication.

This chapter brings together research on bibliotherapy with medical sociology on illness narratives and narrative medicine. It explores the different forms this relationship between illness narratives, narrative medicine and bibliotherapy may take. It draws on previous research on illness narratives and narrative medicine and contrasts it with current models of bibliotherapy to conclude that the potential use of stories about health, illness and medicine stretch beyond current practice. It suggests some areas where connections between illness narratives, narrative medicine and bibliotherapy may be further explored.

Bibliotherapy: purposes and practices

Bibliotherapy is well established as the use of written materials to improve mental health and wellbeing, but questions remain around what type of books it is most useful to recommend (Brewster, 2009). There are two main models of bibliotherapy.