Bibiotherapy – or ‘book therapy’ – is an ancient practice. The notion that reading can help to alleviate distress and anxiety was articulated as early as the 5th century BCE, by the Greek tragedian Aeschylus, who wrote that ‘words are the physician of the mind diseased’.

Books do furnish a mind:the art and science of bibliotherapy by Jonathan Bate, Andrew Schuman – Worcester College, University of Oxford