1. Definition of Bibliotherapy :

According to Minnesota Psychologist Association (MPA), the definition of bibliotheraphy based

on their project is the application of using literature or any other suggested reading materials

that might promote a therapeutic change. Several types of genres will be included according to

bibliographic’s list such as films and other audiovisual materials, poetry, plays, articles or short

stories.

According to Medical Dictionary, bibliotherapy is a form of psychotherapy in which selected

reading materials are used to assist a person in solving personal problems or for other

therapeutic purposes.

Meanwhile according to Encyclopedia of Mental Disorder, the definition of bibliotherapy is about

psychological treatment with the help of appropriate books or other written materials, usually it

has to be read outside of psychotherapy sessions.

Thus, I can conclude that in general bibliotherapy is all about a psychologist treatment using

appropriate reading materials with selected genre according to the bibliotherapic’s lists. From

my opinion, this treatment is to connect the patient into what they have read, relate the moral

values of the stories, the therapists use the power of the word by making the patient understand

the meaning of it as a whole and encourage them to solve their problem with the knowledge

they earn from reading. Let the children live in the world of the fantasy and escape themselves

from the problem faced.

2. How Bibliotheraphy Heals the Children :

Children are the weakest link in the chain of the community. This is because they are very

vulnerable to all types of harm such as to their physical and their mentality as well. They could

not express their feelings and emotions, sorrow and depression, and generate ideas effectively

without the aid of the adults. Bibliotherapy is one of the effective ways to help these children.

The aims of bibliotherapy for children are to identify and validate their feelings; making them

realize that other children have problems similar to their own; stimulate discussion among the

children; encourage the development of cognitive skills and self-awareness; discover possible

ways of dealing with problems and finding a solutions; and decide on a constructive actions for

the problems faced. Using the bibliotherapy application, children can re-tell the plot and

highlighting the feelings, characters, and situations relevant to the problem they faced.

Ask questions that related into what happened in the book in order to develop their feeling and

relationship, thus making it easier for children to identify with the characters and situations.

Demonstrate to the children how to transfer the situation in the book to real life situation.

Encourage them to explore the consequences of certain behaviors or feelings and remind them

what happened as a result of those actions or feelings. Provide opportunities for the children to

draw conclusions to the story in the book if it had positive or negative effects. Create the

opportunities for the children to determine the effectiveness of several alternatives taken in a

specific situation

2 (i). Teacher’s Role in Bibliotherapy Treatment :

I will focus on the teacher’s part to apply the bibliotherapy application for their students based

from the information I managed to collect from the internet. It is important to seek administrator

approval if you plan to use bibliotherapy on topics that may be controversial in your community

and make sure it is not on class period. Teacher roles in helping children to identify and validate

children’s feelings is by discover the students needs and their nature. According to Schultheis

and Pavik. [Ed 163-493], the teacher can obtain the student’s need by observing the students’

behavior and their relationship with the peers, referring to students personal records, have a

private talk with the student or with the student’s parents and finally provide them with a task to

prepare a journal or diary. The age and the maturity of the student are the vital factors in

obtaining information and the selection of approach to be used for the treatment. Based from

the information obtained, the teacher can determine the needs of the students. The teacher

either can make a “Read Aloud” program with the students or to have the problematic student

reads the book selected according to their related problems. The teacher acts as a guidance

throughout the whole process by plan out activities after the reading activities such as asking

open-ended questions, retelling the story, acting out roles, using puppets, writing reactions or

reflections, tape recording thoughts, and using various art materials to help children discover

that other children have similar feelings when confronted with the same situations. Explains to

them that they are not the only ones who experience dilemmas, most of the children encounter

some difficulties in their lives. Everyone has strengths and weaknesses and through self-

conscious children can learn to persevere and to stay strong. Facing a problem is the first step

to solving it, there are a variety of ways to deal with a dilemma and that they can decide on a

course of action and it takes time to get used with a problem. If they are unsuccessful at first

attempted in solving their problems, they need to think of something else to try to solve them.

2 (ii). Parents’ Role in Bibliotherapy Treatment :

Parents can also involve in the process of bibliotherapy treatment. The same method used, with

the help of appropriate reading materials. Bedtime stories or storytelling is one of a good way to

help the children to open up with their parents. Parents need to relate the event of the story in

the book with the real life situation so that the children will be interested to share the problem

they faced. The children might face some difficulties and problems in the school but too scared

or shy to share with the siblings or the parents such as bullies, bad grades, love problems and

others. When the parents and the children are having their moments together for instance

during the bedtime story, there will be no gap between them because the parents will encourage

them to share their feelings either based on the story from the book or anything that the child

wanted to share. The main point of the bedtime story or storytelling is to encourage the children

to open up to anything they wanted to say or share and the parent will identify the problem

faced by them, so at the end they feel safe to open up about anything that bothering them.

3. Recent Research in Malaysia Regarding Bibliotherapy

I found three researches done by the Malaysian regarding the application of bibliotherapy. The

first research entitled “ Bibliotherapy: A Tool For Primary Program With Children And

Adolescence” by Roselina Binti Yusuf and Mohd. Shukry Bin Taharem. The abstract for this

research is about encouraging self-awareness and prevention to drug addiction and abusive.

The advantage of this method is to develop individual self-concept, understanding human

behavior and motivation and how to relieve your emotional pressure. To be open to discuss

your problem freely and discover many alternatives to solve the problems. The concept of

literature is a big help as one of guidance for children to mold their thinking skills, develop

positive behavior and building good character based on their understanding of the story and the

character in it. Thus, the youngsters can understand the danger of drug abuse and relates the

danger in life, knowing the consequences of drug abuse and addiction of drug which has some

relation with understanding the effects of making wrong decision in some short story by

understanding the moral values. This is important to have some knowledge about literature and

to apply it to our real life. Proper reading materials will be helpful to apply the bibliotherapy

application and develop the self-awareness about the danger of drugs.

The second research is from Teh Chee Seng and Foo Kam Mee from Universiti Tunku Abdul

Rahman, Too Wei Keong from Multimedia University entitled “YOUNG ADULT LITERATURE IN

ENGLISH - ITS EFFECTIVENESS IN BIBLIOTHERAPY FOR STUDENTS OF A TERTIARY

INSTITUTE”. The abstract for this research is to find out how effective bibliotherapy by having

selected students to read selected young adults books in English. The result is bibliotherapy

method helps in the process of finding emotional and mental relief. There are four stages which

are the identification, selection, presentation, and follow-up. During the identification and

selection stages, a questionnaire was given to students from Universiti Tunku Abdul Rahman.

The aim of this questionnaire is to identify the problems faced by these students and to make

sure the students are willing to go through a ‘reading programme’ for almost 4 months. The next

stage is the presentation. The data from the questionnaires are collated and summarized to

identify the problems faced by the respondents. The next step is provide suitable books that

related with the problem faced by them and they have a period of 3 months to finish the books.

The final stage is the follow-up stage. The main reason for these questions is to identify which of

the books given is the most interesting and most relevant to the issues that they are facing. The

last two questions is to find out if the books helped them to overcome the problems faced by

them.

Conclusion :

In conclusion, bibliotherapy is very effective to be used for all ages. Instead of providing us with

solutions for our problems, it also helps us to motivate the habit of reading. It is a good

treatment to be practice either to your family members, your friends or your students.