ABSTRACT
In bibliotherapy the term literature is used in the broadest possible sense. As the increasing use of the term biblio/poetry therapy indicates, poetry therapy and interactive bibliotherapy are synonymous in most critical respects. Because the populations that benefit from interactive bibliotherapy are so diverse and because the emphasis necessarily varies from one kind of group to another, practitioners distinguish between clinical and developmental bibliotherapy. Clinical bibliotherapy is typically one of several creative therapies being used with populations in a specific treatment program. Developmental bibliotherapy is typically practiced in groups that have formed and meet in the context of a school, community center, library, church, or synagogue. In bibliotherapy, the literature is generally used as a tool to help young people deal with the issues so critical to this stage—self-identity, independence, and self-worth. Thus, in bibliotherapy, the possibility of growth comes from confrontation with genuine feelings.
