Reading Well Books on Prescription is a scheme in England to encourage people to manage their health and well-being by reading

self-help book A self-help book is one that is written with the intention to instruct its readers on solving personal problems. The books take their name from ''Self-Help'', an 1859 best-seller by Samuel Smiles, but are also known and classified under "self-i ...

s. The scheme was launched in 2013 by the charity

The Reading Agency The Reading Agency is a charity registered in England and Wales which promotes the benefits of reading among children and adults in UK, working with partners including public libraries, colleges and prisons. Operations Sue Wilkinson served as ...

and the Society of Chief Librarians with funding from

Arts Council England Arts Council England is an arm's length non-departmental public body of the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, Department for Culture, Media and Sport. It is also a registered charity. It was formed in 1994 when the Arts Council o ...

. The scheme initially provided reading lists for common

mental health Mental health is often mistakenly equated with the absence of mental illness. However, mental health refers to a person's overall emotional, psychological, and social well-being. It influences how individuals think, feel, and behave, and how t ...

conditions (including

anger Anger, also known as wrath ( ; ) or rage (emotion), rage, is an intense emotional state involving a strong, uncomfortable and non-cooperative response to a perceived provocation, hurt, or threat. A person experiencing anger will often experie ...

anxiety Anxiety is an emotion characterised by an unpleasant state of inner wikt:turmoil, turmoil and includes feelings of dread over Anticipation, anticipated events. Anxiety is different from fear in that fear is defined as the emotional response ...

, depression,

phobia A phobia is an anxiety disorder, defined by an irrational, unrealistic, persistent and excessive fear of an object or situation. Phobias typically result in a rapid onset of fear and are usually present for more than six months. Those affected ...

s, and

self-harm Self-harm refers to intentional behaviors that cause harm to oneself. This is most commonly regarded as direct injury of one's own skin tissues, usually without suicidal intention. Other terms such as cutting, self-abuse, self-injury, and s ...

), but extended this offer to include reading lists for mood-busting books,

dementia Dementia is a syndrome associated with many neurodegenerative diseases, characterized by a general decline in cognitive abilities that affects a person's ability to perform activities of daily living, everyday activities. This typically invo ...

, young people, and long term conditions. The books on the lists are endorsed by health experts, and can be recommended by GPs or other health professionals, or borrowed without referral from

public libraries ''Public Libraries'' is the official publication of the Public Library Association (PLA), a division of the American Library Association (ALA). It is devoted exclusively to public libraries. The print edition is published six times a year and i ...

in England. The scheme was based on a similar scheme in Wales, which was set up by Professor Neil Frude in 2003 (the Welsh assembly made it available nationally in 2005). Neil Frude said "The doctors are already there, the books are already there and so are the libraries. It just needed joining them up." The scheme is supported by evidence which suggests reading can improve health and wellbeing and its effectiveness is evaluated annually. Results show that in its first year the scheme reached 275,000 people, and libraries saw a 113% increase in loans of the titles on the list.

Support

The scheme has the support of bodies including the

Royal College of General Practitioners The Royal College of General Practitioners (RCGP) is the professional body for general (medical) practitioners (GPs/ Family Physicians/ Primary Care Physicians) in the United Kingdom. The RCGP represents and supports GPs on key issues including ...

Royal College of Nursing The Royal College of Nursing (RCN) is a registered trade union and professional body in the United Kingdom for those in the profession of nursing. It was founded in 1916 as the College of Nursing, receiving its royal charter in 1928. Queen Eliz ...

, and

Mind The mind is that which thinks, feels, perceives, imagines, remembers, and wills. It covers the totality of mental phenomena, including both conscious processes, through which an individual is aware of external and internal circumstances ...

. In January 2015, the scheme was expanded to include books to assist people affected by

, whether directly or as carers.

Libraries

Local public library systems are supporting the scheme in various ways, including making the books available in branches, providing access through their catalogues, and promoting the lists and the books. In 2015, the findings of a two-year evaluation report into the Reading Well Books on Prescription scheme were published; it claimed that there had been a 97% increase in UK library loans of mental health self-help books, and a 346% increase in the number of books for people with dementia borrowed from libraries in England.

General practice

Some general practices are informing patients about the Reading Well lists as part of their patient information websites.

Book lists

A book list on common mental health conditions in adults was created in 2013. It was followed by a list for people with

and their

carer A caregiver, carer or support worker is a paid or unpaid person who helps an individual with activities of daily living. Caregivers who are members of a care recipient's family or social network, who may have specific professional training, are o ...

s in 2015, and the "Reading Well for Young People" list, aimed at the 13–18 age group and including fiction such as ''

The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time ''The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time'' is a 2003 mystery novel by British writer Mark Haddon. Haddon and ''The Curious Incident'' won the Whitbread Book Awards for Best Novel and Book of the Year, the Commonwealth Writers' Pri ...

'', in 2016.

References

External links

* * *{{cite web, title=Books on Prescription: Young people's mental health, url=http://reading-well.org.uk/books/books-on-prescription/young-people-s-mental-health, publisher=The Reading Agency, date=2016 Organizations promoting literacy Self-help books Mental health in the United Kingdom Dementia