Poetry As Healer: Mending the Troubled Mind

"Since the rise to prominence during the late 1950s and early 1960s of the Confessional school of poetry (headed by Lowell, Plath, and Sexton, whose plagues of mental problems and suicides are now part and parcel of literary history), poetry-as-therapy has been a potent, if often misallied, force that has gradually attracted adherents. Practicing psychiatrists, clinical psychologists, and psychiatric social workers have contributed essays - some highly theoretical, others far less so - to this collection, covering the why, how, and where of poetry therapy. In addition to the writings of patients, works by renowned poets from Shakespeare to Yeats are used to illustrate the therapeutic relationship of poetry to medicine, as the authors show how the reading of poetry's masterpieces can be as beneficial to patients as the actual writing of poetry. Recommended for a highly select but growing audience."
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