60-second Explainer: bibliotherapy

The rise of bibliotherapy - prescribing curated books as mental health medicine - signals a growing recognition of literature's healing power in 2025. New data shows trained "book doctors" are increasingly popular, offering personalised reading prescriptions to tackle everything from anxiety to grief. While the practice traces back to 1916, it's gaining fresh relevance as an accessible alternative to traditional therapy. The trend resonates particularly in communities with limited mental health resources. Practitioners report that fiction, rather than self-help, drives the deepest transformation, suggesting storytelling as a path to emotional wellness.