EN
Bibliotherapy develops following various patterns, depending on the academic background of its theoreticians, authors of its first analyses in a given country. There are clear differences both with respect to the methodology and means, and the professional training of people providing literature-based therapy or counselling. An example of different approaches to bibliotherapy and poetry therapy can be seen in the views of Polish scholars, mainly bibliologists and 'educationists', and the their German colleagues, who represent mainly medical sciences. For many years the forms of therapy applied in Poland drew on the views of Ewa Tomasik in 'Czytelnictwo i biblioterapia w pedagogice specjalnej' (Reading and bibliotherapy in special needs pedagogics), Warsaw 1994), while in Germany the practises drew on Hilarion G. Petzold's and Ilse Orth's study 'Poesie und Therapie. Über die Heilkraft der Sprache' (Bielefeld-Locarno 2005). The present study examines the basic 21st century German-language literature on bibliotherapy and poetry therapy, in which - as it turns out - H.G. Petzold's opinions and guidelines have survived to a greater or lesser extent.