Some Resources

A broad overview of bibliotherapy is offered on this page from Goodtherapy.org. Note that it covers some forms of bibliotherapy not addressed by Fiction That Heals (such as developmental bibliotherapy). Our focus is on therapeutic bibliotherapy using imaginative literature.


For a casual reflection on the therapeutic value of novels, read this post from Psychology Today.


The author of the Psychology Today post links to this article about one person's experience with bibliotherapy, published in the New Yorker.


For a more academic exploration of bibliotherapy, read this article (Androutsopoulou, 2001).

Writers' Guidelines

Fiction That Heals seeks brief, thoughtful essays examining the therapeutic value of individual stories. If you would like to write for us, please follow these guidelines:

• Each post should be in the 500- to 750-word range, approximately.
• Please focus on a single story. Identify the story by title and author. Take care to properly acknowledge sources of stories and any other materials. The story should be previously published, and it should not have been written by the author of the post.
• In our best posts, the writers have a clear grasp of the uses and benefits of narrative therapy. Writers also have a clear grasp of terms such as inspiration, catharsis, identification, externalization, and empowerment.
• It is up to the writer whether or not to discuss their own personal life. Doing so is neither required nor forbidden. In any case, it should be clear what kind of person the story would be most therapeutic for.
• Please make an effort to craft a well organized blog post. It does not have to be a formal essay, but it should have a clear structure.
• Unless you are a mental-health professional (most writers for the blog are not), please refrain from offering our readers advice. Our purpose is simply to spotlight stories and point out their potential therapeutic value.

About This Blog

The idea that reading is therapeutic goes back many centuries. Over the entrance of the library in ancient Thebes was the inscription, "The Healing-Place of the Soul." The notion persists today, as we subscribe to the value of reading to children and the infirm. Many social workers, psychotherapists, and counselors share literature with their clients. The formal use of literature in clinical practice is known as bibliotherapy. Narrative therapy is a form of bibliotherapy in which the counselor uses fiction with their clients.


This site is dedicated to the idea that stories can be comforting, inspiring, or even empowering, and as such they can be therapeutic for readers. Our purpose is to spotlight individual short stories that may be therapeutic for readers in certain circumstances. Contributors to the blog are not therapists themselves, but each writer offers a personal, heartfelt appreciation of the potential therapeutic value of a story.