| Throughout recorded human history, various forms of literature have been used for their presumed healing properties, but little has been known about how the process works. Such attempts assume their most organized form in modern bibliotherapy. The practice is widespread, and practitioners describe an array of purported theoretical processes. However, the approach lacks a coherent theoretical framework, drawing primarily from extant schools of thought and having long been considered only as a useful adjunct to therapy. At the same time, the use of the narrative metaphor as an organizing principle has emerged as a central force in a wide range of fields. Within psychology, narrative principally draws from a "text analogy" (White & Epston, 1990) to view human experiences as "storied." Despite the obvious parallels, there has previously been little in the way of an attempt to merge bibliotherapy with narrative psychology. This theoretical dissertation seeks to provide a broad explanatory umbrella for the practice of bibliotherapy, drawing on the narrative metaphor as it is used in therapy, philosophy, literature, and other areas. In the process, traditional approaches to psychological theorizing are challenged, with a focus on the power of metaphor at multiple levels, from the metatheoretical to the practical. The resulting model of bibliotherapy holds strong implications for the practice of bibliotherapy within a narrative framework as potentially more powerful and more meaningful than previous attempts and offerings. |
