Research confirms that just 30 minutes of reading for pleasure a day confers significant and sustained mental health benefits. Picture by Jaredd Craig/Unsplash.
With lockdowns, case numbers and ongoing anxiety about the effects of COVID, we’re all suffering from various symptoms of malaise but instead of tuning into the daily press conferences and doomscrolling, you may consider picking up a book instead to engage in some bibliotherapy. It’s the ancient practice of reading for therapeutic effect.
ArtsHub spoke to three bibliotherapists about their work and asked them for a couple of recommendations to smooth the rough edges of life.
Thuy On is the Reviews and Literary Editor of ArtsHub and an arts journalist, critic and poet who’s written for a range of publications including The Guardian, The Saturday Paper, Sydney Review of Books, The Australian, The Age/SMH and Australian Book Review. She was the Books Editor of The Big Issue for 8 years and a former Melbourne theatre critic correspondent for The Australian.
She has three collections of poetry published by the University of Western Australian Press (UWAP): Turbulence (2020), Decadence (2022) and Essence (2025).
Threads: @thuy_on123 Instagram: poemsbythuy
