Lendo e vivendo : a biblioterapia e o desabrochar de si no envelhecer

Abstract

The article explores bibliotherapy as a therapeutic practice that uses reading as a tool for self-knowledge and the re-signification of the aging experience. Reading thus becomes a path to inner bl,ssoming, promoting well-being, autonomy, and a sense of purpose in later life. It raises the

following guiding question: How can bibliotherapy contribute to the process of self-knowledge and re- signification of aging, fostering the blossoming of the self in old age? Defines the following general

objective:To analyze the role of bibliotherapy as a tool for promoting active and humanized aging, highlighting its effects on the blossoming of subjectivity in elderly individuals, based on the researcher‘s own lived experience; c) To investigate how bibliotherapy can contribute to the development of social bonds and a sense of belonging among elderly individuals. The theoretical framework is based on the ideas of authors such as Pinheiro; Pinheiro; Autran, Brito e Paiva (2019); Fraiman (1995), Del Priore (2025); Josso (2003); Beauvoir (1970), Neri (2001) e Debert (1999), among others. The methodology is oriented toward qualitative, descriptive, and narrative autoethnographic research with a bibliotherapeutic focus, based on books addressing the highlighted theme. It concludes that the therapeutic value of reading in old age lies in the belief in bibliotherapy as a healing form of reading, which manifests in the construction of autonomy in older adults—enabling them to recognize otherness, cultivate self-respect through the respect for others, and take responsibility for themselves and their own decisions.