Bibliotherapy.

The term bibliotherapy "can be traced back to the early Greek words for book, 'biblion,' and for healing, 'therapeia.'

The benefits of bibliotherapy—the use of the written word for therapeutic purposes—have been known for centuries, even millennia. The ancient Egyptians, for example, acknowledged the power of words to do more than render facts or tell a tale: Inscribed above the portal to the library of Pharaoh Ramses II were the words "the house of healing for the soul." More than 3,000 years later, Abraham Lincoln also pointed to important aspects of bibliotherapy—empathy and shared experience—when he said, "Books serve to show a man that those original thoughts of his aren't very new at all."

Learning More: International Federation for Biblio/Poetry Therapy (ifbpt.org), the National Association for Poetry Therapy (poetrytherapy.org), and the Therapeutic Writing Institute from the Center for Journal Therapy (journaltherapy.com