title: Literature: a vehicle for emotional connection between clinician and client.
abstract: Nurses have used literature in a variety of ways to increase understanding of the problems and dilemmas of their patients. Literature can be used in psychotherapy when a patient either selects a literary work to discuss or writes his or her own work. Incorporation of literature into psychotherapy offers opportunities for discussion that yield important information about the patient as he or she explores conscious and unconscious issues.
authors.affiliation: Nursing Service for Research, Edith Nourse Rogers Memorial Veterans Hospital, Bedford, MA 01730.
authors.forename: M L
authors.initials: ML
authors.lastname: Lanza
mesh_terms: D001638:Bibliotherapy / Q000379:methods*; D006801:Humans; D008093:Literature, Modern; D001523:Mental Disorders / Q000628:therapy*; D011568:Psychiatric Nursing; D011613:Psychotherapy / Q000379:methods; D014167:Transference, Psychology