BIBLIOTHERAPY IN UNIPOLAR DEPRESSION - A METAANALYSIS

In the last decades, several therapies for unipolar depression have be en developed, for example cognitive therapy, behavior therapy and phar macotherapy. A new kind of therapy is bibliotherapy. What is new in th is treatment modality is not the content, because bibliotherapy usuall y uses a cognitive-behavioral approach. Only the form in which it is p resented is new. In bibliotherapy the patient takes a standardized tre atment home, in book form, and works it through more or less independe ntly. Contacts with therapists are only supportive or facilitative. No traditional relationship between therapist and patient is developed. In this article the relevance of bibliotherapy for the clinical practi ce is presented and a meta-analysis of the research into bibliotherapy is described. (C) 1997 Elsevier Science Ltd.