Date:              Wednesday, 23rd February 2011
Time:              2-3pm
Venue:            B1005A

Sociology Seminar Series
Semester 2
2011

Seminar 1: The Reading Cure? Bibliotherapy, Healthy Reading Schemes and the Treatment of Mental Illness in Ireland

Dr. Patricia Neville
Department of Sociology, University of Limerick

With the publication of the mental health policy document, A Vision to Change (2006), the Irish government articulated an historic shift in the conceptualisation and development of services for mental health sufferers. This sea change advocates a turn away from an institutionalised medical model to a more holistic, community based and self-care focused model of mental well-being. One year later Ireland's first book prescription scheme was established in Dublin which encouraged local general practitioner's to 'prescribe' self-help books to their patients with mild to moderate mental health issues. Operating on the guiding principle of bibliotherapy, book prescription schemes and other library based self-help healthy reading schemes are being promoted as an empowering, alternative model of care in the community for Irish mental health sufferers. In this paper I will critically assess these schemes to expose the structural, ideological and therapeutic limits of such an initiative.

Seminar convenor:

Dr. Lee F. Monaghan
Senior Lecturer
Department of Sociology
University of Limerick
Ireland

Tel: 00353(0)61-213346
Email: .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)
http://www.ul.ie/sociology/lee.monaghan.html