Developing self-help books on prescription schemes

Abstract

Chapter 19 describes a practical way for CBT self-help resources to be made more widely available. Book prescription schemes offer an attractive solution to funders. Potentially access to CBT self-help can be rolled out widely through the public library services. The chapter presents an overview of the development of this approach, highlighting some novel aspects of the scheme, such as the prescription element in which, as is the case with medication, self-help books are ‘prescribed’ by the LI practitioner. Anecdotally, this element of the scheme seems to help legitimize the use of the written materials and increases patient expectancies around the self-help approach. However, there are also distinct challenges associated with such schemes, not least the difficulties in ensuring that the self-help books recommended and ‘prescribed’ on the scheme are evidence-based and are not likely to do harm.