In the past year, Great Britain’s National Health Service has launched a new “Books on Prescription” program for people suffering from anxiety, depression, and other behavioral health problems. As an alternative to traditional pharmaco- or psycho- therapy, doctors are now recommending self-help books to patients to equip them with the skills to lift themselves out of their illnesses.
Aside from the self-help genre, fiction books are also gaining attention in the medical community as effective treatments. The Reading Agency, the organization responsible for founding Books on Prescription, is also promoting their “Mood-Boosting Books” program, which publishes an annual list of “good reads for people who are anxious or depressed.” The guide to the 2013 Mood-Boosting Books reading list can be found here.
