For Mum — the one who sparked my joy of reading.

Have you ever heard of bibliotherapy?

I first heard the term three years ago when, as part of my release from a mental health ward, I was directed to meet with a psychiatrist at the local community mental health centre. After sharing about how reading was the only thing that had a calming effect during my stay in hospital, the psychiatrist recommended I look up bibliotherapy and discuss it with my GP and psychologist.

Commonly known as book therapy, bibliotherapy can take the form of formal groups run by therapists, or informal practices that individuals and small groups incorporate. How I often explain it to others is the practice of reading books for therapeutic effect and contemplation.

It’s the use of creative literature for healing, nourishing and motivating us in life. - Bibliotherapist Sonya Tsakalakis

In this post, I want to explore the relationship between reading — predominantly fiction as I subscribe to “the restorative power of reading fiction” — and mental health by concentrating on three benefits reading offers. I’ll also touch on one issue many who struggle with mental health have with reading.

1. Reading reminds us to switch off and switch on

It doesn’t take much to find out about the adverse effects that “screens” can have on our lives and development. We hear about it online through social media and on nightly news stories. (The irony!) But when we also consider how technology and COVID-19 have recently affected work routines and settings, schooling and education, as well as our overwhelming need for updated information, it’s easy to conclude that reading books is part of the past.

Yet this isn’t the case for everyone. We’ve also seen a growing number of posts where people share about the screen-less activities they’ve been tapping into during the COVID-19 pandemic. Take my wife’s grandmother, for example, who for much of the time that I’ve known her has spent a significant amount of her week gorging on reality television… and the odd melodrama and game show. However, recently Gram has chosen to turn off the box in favour of reading novels. This has also coincided with significant improvements in her cognitive health following a stroke in 2018.

While we aren’t claiming that reading alone is the answer to Gram’s improvements, studies based on the analysis of MRI brain scans have shown that “when people read about an experience, they display simulation within the same neurological regions as when they go through the experience themselves. We draw on the same brain networks when we’re reading stories and when we’re trying to guess another person’s feelings.”

Therefore, I don’t think it’s unfair to suggest that reading has played a role in the improved health of an 84-year-old woman who in the last few years has suffered a stroke and lost her twin sister and companion. Reading also allows people who may otherwise feel increasingly isolated to connect in social and intimate ways that they may not have in a long time.

Fiction is a kind of simulation, one that runs not on computers but on minds: a simulation of selves in their interactions with others in the social world … based in experience, and involving being able to think of possible futures. - Keith Oatley, Such Stuff as Dreams: Psychology of Fiction

I know that this is a truth in my life as the depth of imaginative thought I experience while reading is rarely matched when I’m watching a screen. That’s not to say all movies are passively consumed; rather, I want to stress the physical and mental benefits we experience in exercising our imaginations and minds while reading.

2. Reading offers a restful escape

A research study in 2009 found that 30 minutes of reading "lowers blood pressure, heart rate, and feelings of psychological distress just as effectively as yoga and humor". I consider this share-worthy because it is a widely held belief that yoga and humour tick these boxes, but would you associate sitting down and reading a novel for 30 minutes relaxing and stress relieving?

Research studies aside; at the heart of what makes reading something I need on the regular (especially when I consider how exposed we are to ‘consumerism’s discontent’), is that it offers a restful escape. This escape is not to say that I hate my life or find those around me draining; I just know that being able to get outside my thoughts and inner-Shakespearean-monologues provides clarity and the peace of mind that, in turn, serves everything else.

For example, let's take Maurice Druon's historical fiction series that I've just finished reading, The Accursed Kings. (Note: Game of Thrones fans should consider reading the novels as G.R.R. Martin called them "the original Game of Thrones".) While I didn't marvel at every twist and turn the influential French author took in the seven novels, being transported through the author’s words and my mind's eye to medieval France, England and Italy was fascinating. It brought with it a mental escape that allowed me to step back, consider the lives of others and experience the rest that only contextualising life can bring. It’s also an experience that one can't always experience through watching a screen that force-feeds you what is known as ‘the artistic experience’.

3. Reading educates and challenges

One of the reasons I cherish my years studying at university is because of the reading I was able to access through the university library. I would spend days, even the occasional weekend, perched on a chair at a library cubicle reading for assignments, but also my interests.

I tell you about this because it led me to this thought that Murakami offered in Norwegian Wood. What I most enjoyed was that I could access a range of books, some of which were not popular or widely discussed in the 2000s. This led me to reconsider “facts” that I realised had been handed down by society. I’m not saying what I believed was unworthy; instead, it was helpful to consider other views and ultimately learn the value of reading widely.

And I don’t think this is confined to higher education and university libraries. One of the great uses of technology has been connecting us with online learning and resources, such as public libraries. The array of free books (print and e-books) council libraries offer in Sydney, Australia never ceases to amaze me. (Okay, yes, you could argue that your taxes pay for it. Let’s get past that quibble!)

So, here’s the point: read some novels that you otherwise wouldn’t consider.

4. We all experience seasons

It was April 2015.

I was sitting in the office of an academic who was overseeing modern history thesis candidates. My head pounded against my temples to the point of reminding me of Poe’s Tell-tale Heart. I also struggled to take my eyes off the rows of books that lined the walls of Dr Boucher’s office.

“I can’t focus while reading anymore.”

I don’t know at what point in the conversation I shared this with Dr Boucher, but I do remember saying it as it felt like I finally showed my hand.

My anxiety and panic had blurred the books and academic articles I was meant to pour over to write a literature review. I had gone from being capable of landing a postgraduate scholarship to being unable to concentrate on a paragraph of writing. I think it’s fair to say I was distraught — panic attacks had become a regular occurrence.

A few days before meeting with Dr Boucher, I had gone to the desperate length of chucking dozens of books I borrowed from the university library into the spare bedroom and locked the door. Not only did I feel incapable of reading, I felt dread when I saw the books.

I did not read another word for close to four months. Dr Boucher and my GP, to their distinct credit, saw and understood the state I was in and fast-tracked a Leave of Absence from my study.

I don’t struggle to put many feelings and experiences into words, but this is one. At the time, I was sure that I’d crossed a line and would never go back to reading and researching — the thesis was done and I had Failed.

“We are going to get you back there [to reading and the thesis], this is just a season.”

I’ll never forget my GP’s words as she diagnosed my Generalised Anxiety Disorder and printed the Leave of Absence request.

The doc turned out to be right: mental health crises warp our mental processes and feed us binary thoughts because our fight-or-flight response is triggered.

Since starting the Mental Health Today Facebook page, I have received quite a few messages and comments from people explaining that they don’t feel like they can read due to mental health issues. What I want to tell those who have spent periods unable to concentrate while reading is that you can work through it (with professional help) and come to see it as a “season”.

One reason it’s important to seek professional assistance is because of the significant research and learning invested in how mental health, especially trauma, affects cognitive abilities and concentration. A psychotherapist specialising in trauma explains that “trauma absolutely affects cognitive ability, concentration, our ability to learn, and yes, even our ability to read. I commonly have clients come in thinking they have ADD or ADHD, and many times they’re actually dealing with trauma.”

Therapists can assist in working through trauma and understanding how it affects our ability to concentrate and read. (I’m certainly not qualified to do so!) What I found during therapy with psychiatrists and psychologists is that they assisted in processing trauma and PTSD so that I didn’t remain stuck in a place where higher-function activities felt impossible.

Reading is a higher-function activity and one that requires us to allow ourselves to be absorbed in the mind of another in order to ‘receive’ their communication. - Mark Vahrmeyer, integrative psychotherapist

So, please know that it’s okay to put the books and expectations down during struggles. You shouldn’t feel stupid or put too much stock in the opinions of those who don’t carefully consider what you are experiencing.