Practice known as bibliotherapy prescribes poetry, fiction, to help patients with symptoms of anxiety or depression
Clinical neurologist Donald Weaver often writes prescriptions for his patients with dementia. Occasionally, the Toronto doctor writes them poetry.
In his own informal way, Dr. Weaver doles out bibliotherapy, the use of literature for therapeutic effect. As emerging research in this field suggests, poetry and fiction can help reduce stress, provide solace and illuminate new ways of facing problems. And in recent years, experimental uses of bibliotherapy have been applied to an expanding range of medical issues, from depression and anxiety to phobias and sexual dysfunction.
Reading itself can be considered a form of self-care, allowing readers to exercise their imagination and ability to concentrate, he said. When you take time for yourself to engage with a text, your muscles are less tense, and your heart rate and breathing rate go down. It also offers a healthy escape from your immediate concerns and pressures.
Echoing Mr. Sassoon’s first lines, “I knew a simple soldier boy/Who grinned at life in empty joy,” Dr. Weaver’s also begins with pre-war innocence: “Ten fingers strong, 10 newborn toes/A healthy birth, our perfect son …” For him, part of the art of medicine also involves recognizing which patients would benefit from and be receptive to receiving a poem.