Reading, Writing and Revelation

Whenever the stabbing pain in her knee becomes unbearable, 17-year-old Mackenzie Bearup picks up a book and starts to read. While previous treatments -- painkillers, physiotherapy, acupuncture, hyperbaric oxygen therapy -- have failed, a self-prescribed reading cure works. "So far, books have been my only medicine," Bearup says. Reading and healing have an age-old association. In ancient Egypt, libraries were known as psyches iatreion, "sanatoriums of the soul." During the Renaissance, the poetry of the Psalms was thought to "banish vexations of both the soul. Now, science is starting to prove what readers and writers have long known: Words can help us repair and revitalize our bodies as well as our minds. And as a result, bibliotherapy -- reading specific texts in response to particular situations or conditions -- is becoming more and more popular among psychologists, physicians, librarians and teachers.

READ FULL STORY