Book prescribing
Research has suggested that the best self help books can produce results comparable to drug therapy or psychotherapy. Most of the self help resources that have been subjected to clinical trials and have shown to be effective are based on Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT). Many of these resources have been written by lead clinicians in the field and are adaptations of well established clinical treatments. They present complete, step by step, self help treatment programmes that the reader can work through independently.
Who is the service for?
The book prescribing scheme is for adults with mild to moderate mental health problems. It may not be suitable for those with limited motivation or limited literacy.
Patients are able to access a range of self-help books to help deal with a range of conditions such as low mood, anxiety, anger and bereavement.
How to “prescribe” a book
A “prescription” for any of the available books can be generated via the appropriate health worker. Patients can take the “prescription” to any library and obtain the book. The prescribing form will indicate the appropriate book(s) depending on the patient’s condition. It is possible however for patients to obtain the book from the library without a prescription.
- Healthy Reading Midlothian booklet gives an overview of the resources currently available.
- Prescribers information booklet gives more detail about benefits of book prescribing, who may benefit and the resources available.
