Notwithstanding legislation and individual schools' codes of conduct prohibiting bullying, bullying is an escalating problem in South African schools. It seems as if existing anti-bullying policies, programmes and intervention strategies are failing to address the scourge. Bibliotherapy has been identified as a way to strengthen schools' existing…

In small-group workshops, a joint initiative of the researcher and the student counsellor, primary (elementary) pre-service teachers (PSTs) wrote about critical incidents in their mathematics learning, and shared them with the group. Then, PSTs read extracts about mathematics anxiety (maths anxiety), and wrote and shared their reflections…

The effect of bibliotherapy, videotaping, and bibliotherapy combined with videotaping techniques on the self concept of 33 behaviorally disordered adolescent males was examined. Analysis of pre- and posttest scores of the Self Observation Scale (SOS) indicated no significant difference between the treatment groups and control groups on any of the…

Presents the concept of bibliotherapy and discusses the value of books--particularly modern fiction and poetry--for helping individuals to cope with death and other personal crises. Several specific titles are recommended for adults. (MES)

Children are able to cope with a majority of problems of learning and growing; some problems, however, may require guidance and support. A technique available to all people, trained or untrained in counseling or guidance is bibliotherapy--a process of dynamic interaction between the personality of the reader and literature which may be used for…

Bibliotherapy appears to be a viable technique for reading teachers to use. The increased emphasis on values and values clarification in the classroom is just one of the many apparent uses of bibliotherapy and its techniques. Bibliotherapy is also a useful adjunct to the teaching of critical reading, because it requires the student to use higher…

Poetry therapy has been in use with adult psychiatric patients at Saint Elizabeths Hospital, Washington, D.C, for 10 years. The treatment used involves reading poetry, listening to recordings, studying poets, and writing poetry. The patients' choice of poems is not restricted by the staff, but different types of poetry appeal to different types of…

This paper reviews the research literature pertaining to the use of poetry writing in counseling and psychotherapy as a therapeutic intervention. The paper begins with the theoretical perspectives of poetry, then discusses S. Freud's and C. Jung's views of poetry from the psychological perspective. This is followed by a discussion of studies on…

Social relationships should not be considered merely as the way individuals get along with others. Interaction with others plays a crucial part in the social development of children in terms of how they interpret words, gestures and attitudes of others toward themselves. Every social interaction holds messages that children interpret as enforcing…

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of prescribed literature on the reader's self-reliance. The subjects were 36 sixth grade children from the ages of eleven to thirteen. Pretest and posttest measures of self-reliance were made by the California Test of Personality and the Teacher Rating Scale. The subjects were randomly…

Bibliotherapy, a therapy using the reading of literature as well as the act of creative writing, should be considered as a therapeutic technique in its own right, not just as an alternative to other therapies. It may help any age or ability level, including those who are blocked in more self-searching therapy, and it may also contribute to a more…

Poetry therapy is the method of therapy based on the principle that a poem is a special medium for expressing emotions and that this expression can have psychotherapeutic value. A survey taken in 1973 showed there were over 400 therapists treating 3,500 drug addicts, alcoholics, and mental retardates around the country. Poetry therapists…

The new realism of using books to offer solutions to problems or present solutions that could lessen a person's inner turmoil and break down attitudinal barriers to learning was coined "bibliotherapy" by G. O. Ireland in 1930. Each year the International Reading Association publishes an annotated collection of contemporary literature in…

This review identifies and categorizes 27 contemporary children's or young adult novels in which either the protagonist or one of the major characters is gifted. Books are classified into six categories: (1) books in which giftedness is described as an innate character of the protagonist, but this fact is not a dominating feature of the character…

Teachers' dismissal of Robert Cormier's books as "too depressing" suggests a lack of sound critical understanding of his work and a lack of faith in individual young people. The body of adolescent or young adult literature has come a long way in recent years. The writing has shown a much fuller range of literary quality and the content…