Bibliotherapy treatment for children with adjustment difficulties: A comparison of affective and cognitive bibliotherapy

This study compared outcomes following cognitive and affective bibliotherapy treatment with 79 children and adolescents in a residential home in Israel. Treatment children were compared to a control-no treatment group from the same home. Anxiety was measured through a self-report measure (Revised Children's Manifest Anxiety Scale; Reynolds & Richmond, 1985), and adjustment symptoms were measured with the Teacher's Report Form (Achenbach, 1991) completed by counselors in the residential home. Results indicate a reduction in social anxiety in both treatment groups compared with control. A reduction in adjustment symptoms was found only under affective bibliotherapy conditions. The study concludes that affective bibliotherapy is superior to cognitive bibliotherapy. The discussion focuses on a possible explanation of these results.