Personal Existential Analysis as a Model for Developing a Bibliotherapy Method

The study is devoted to the study of the possibilities and limitations of the method of bibliotherapy, developed on the basis of personal existential analysis, and used on the example of the problems of female identity. At the theoretical stage of the study, a matrix was created for the analysis of research literature on the problems of bibliotherapy, as well as a historical analysis of the emergence, development and establishment of bibliotherapy. It was found that literature as one of the tools for providing psychological assistance has been relevant since ancient times and does not lose its position today. A book as an existential phenomenon is an effective auxiliary tool for a person to understand the world, his life, and himself. In the context of the realities of the 21st century, literature acts as an instrument of confronting the personality of fragmentation and the mosaic of hypertexts in virtual space. The study of the theoretical aspects of bibliotherapy allowed the generalization of the basic principles and characteristics of bibliotherapy as a method of psychological assistance and correlate them with the essential features of personal existential analysis. It was found that bibliotherapy, in view of its interdisciplinary origin, is considered in the framework of a variety of approaches, however, as an existentially analytical tool, bibliotherapy can be studied only in axiological and acmeological terms. Bibliotherapy promotes the advancement of personality along the path of self-knowledge and the development of existential tools, because based on hermeneutical analysis of texts. The latter, in turn, allows the individual to develop reflection and cognition skills. It has been suggested that bibliotherapy can be used as a promising tool for self-knowledge and self-help. At the empirical stage of the study, a research program was created that included the development of a list of questions, which, as expected, can form the basis of the existential-analytical model of bibliotherapy. An empirical study of the possibilities and limitations of the existential-analytical model of bibliotherapy has been implemented, which manifested itself during 8 semi-structured interviews devoted to the problems of female identity. As a prospect of further work on the chosen research topic, correction and refinement of the bibliotherapy method, based on the personal existential analysis model, taking into account the findings, as well as the possible testing of the updated method on the example of studying the characteristics of male identity, is supposed.