Using Films As an Adjunctive Treatment in Psychotherapy: EA Professionals May Find It Useful to Supplement Bibliotherapy with Films, Especially with Clients Who are Nonverbal Or Unlikely to Complete Assigned Readings (Employee Assistance Professionals‪)‬

There are numerous approaches to therapy and counseling (see Corsini and Wedding 2008), and many employee assistance professionals identify with one of more of these schools of psychotherapy. Although differing in theory and strategy, many of these approaches include bibliotherapy as a part of treatment. There is strong justification for this practice: At least a dozen controlled clinical trials document that self-help books and/or computer-based treatments are effective adjuncts to therapy (Norcross 2006). Examples of extremely popular books used to facilitate therapy include David Burns' Feeling Good and a classic book by Albert Ellis and Robert Harper, A New Guide to Rational Living. However, bibliotherapy may not be appropriate for clients with little education or for those individuals who simply do not like to read books. While there are no randomized controlled trials documenting the efficacy of films in psychotherapy, there is ample anecdotal evidence that many clients benefit when films are included as a part of the therapy process (Sharp, Smith, and Cole 2002; Wedding and Niemiec 2003).