5 Mental Health Books You Should Be Reading Right Now
Mental health is as important to your wellbeing as physical health, impacting how you think, feel, and relate to others. Whether you're dealing with anxiety or recovering from a mental illness, you can draw on an array of books to support you in your wellness journey.
Here are some insightful and inspirational mental health resources to add to your bookshelf.
1. Unwinding Anxiety by Judson Brewer
Dr. Judson Brewer, an addiction psychiatrist and neuroscientist, explains how anxiety can cause negative behaviors such as procrastination, stress-eating, and endless doom-scrolling. Unwinding Anxiety presents a step-by-step plan for breaking the cycle of worry and fear that keeps you trapped in old habits. Learn to identify triggers and halt anxiety at the source, and adopt practices such as mindfulness to train the brain to think differently.
2. Back, After the Break by Osher Günsberg
Osher Günsberg is a media personality best known for hosting The Bachelor Australia and Australian Idol. While he's cool and calm in the public spotlight, he lives with mental illness every day. Back, After the Break is a memoir about his struggles with anxiety, panic attacks, weight issues, and depression. With raw honesty and humor, he takes readers through the darkest moments of his life and his road to recovery.
3. Toxic Childhood Stress by Nadine Burke Harris
Two-thirds of Americans have experienced a childhood trauma caused by violence, bereavement, divorce, abuse, or neglect. While some children get through the events with support from adults, others experience prolonged stress, which changes the neural system and impacts mental and physical development. Toxic Childhood Stress explores the connections between childhood trauma and long-term health, highlighting interventions that can retrain the brain and foster resilience and change. The book includes a free Adverse Childhood Experience test.
4. Cleaning Up Your Mental Mess by Caroline Leaf
Runaway thoughts can cause you to be unfocused and overwhelmed. Cleaning Up Your Mental Mess presents strategies for reducing anxiety and depression by being aware of how you think. Addressing issues such as toxic perfectionism, overthinking, and people-pleasing, Dr. Caroline Leaf empowers you to catch and manage intrusive thoughts before they get away from you. Her approach goes beyond mindfulness, helping to unwire negative thought patterns.
5. Poetry Rx by Norman Rosenthal
Art and music are often used in therapy to help people examine their feelings and experiences. Psychiatrist Norman Rosenthal believes poetry can serve the same purpose. Poetry Rx: How 50 Inspiring Poems Can Heal and Bring Joy To Your Life features 50 classic works exploring aspects of the human experience. Each poem is accompanied by an essay that connects the poet's words to universal emotions such as loss, love, sadness, and faith, helping readers to find healing, comfort, and a path forward.
