Empathy and Reading: Exploring Dialectical Bibliotherapy as anAdjunct Intervention for Cluster B Personality Disorders

Abstract

Empathy deficits and emotional dysregulation are core features of Cluster B personality disorders, often contributing to interpersonal dysfunction and therapeutic resistance. This paper explores the therapeutic potential of guided literary fiction reading—termed Dialectical Bibliotherapy—as a novel adjunct intervention aimed at enhancing affective empathy and emotional literacy in individuals with borderline, narcissistic, histrionic, and antisocial personality traits.

Drawing on Reader-Response Theory, the study frames literary fiction not merely as passive entertainment but as an interactive psychological encounter wherein readers engage with complex emotional landscapes and multifaceted character psychologies. The proposed intervention involves structured reading sessions of selected emotionally intense fiction, followed by reflective dialogue modeled after techniques in Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT). The therapeutic reading process aims to scaffold empathic resonance by fostering imaginative identification and symbolic processing in a non-threatening context.

This interdisciplinary model draws from psychiatry, narrative theory, and affective neuroscience to argue that literature may serve not only as mirror but as mediator—offering patients the opportunity to safely rehearse empathy and reconfigure emotional scripts. The paper concludes by outlining a pilot framework for clinical application and calls for empirical validation through controlled trials.