Mental Health Book Reviews

Mental health book reviews are published every Wednesday on MH@H. I review non-fiction books on topics related to mental health, and I particularly enjoy reviewing books by indie authors. I post honest reviews, but in the case of indie authors, I would choose not to post a review rather than post a negative review. As a general rule, I don’t publish reviews prior to a book’s publication date. Please let me know via my contact form if you have suggestions for books you think I should review.

This page includes the books I’ve reviewed so far. Subject tags are included in italics if a book’s subject isn’t clear from the title.

The names of authors who are fellow bloggers are hyperlinked to their blogs. Their books cover some additional genres outside of the books I typically review.

Mental Illness Book Reviews

Anxiety

• Calm & Sense by Wendy Leeds
• Everything Isn’t Terrible by Kathleen Smith 
• Mindful Somatic Awareness for Anxiety Relief by Michele L. Blume
• My Age of Anxiety by Scott Stossel
• Redface by Russell Norris
• Show Your Anxiety Who’s Boss by Joel Minden
• The Anxiety Book for Trans People by Freiya Benson
• The Anxiety Skills Workbook by Stefan G. Hoffmann
• You Got This by Caroline Foran 

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Bipolar Disorder

• An Unquiet Mind by Kay Redfield Jamison
• Bipolar Me by Janet Coburn
• Birth of A New Brain by Dyane Harwood
• Braving Bipolar by Stephanie Schlosser
• Bring Me To Light by Eleanor Segall
• But Deliver Me from Crazy by Katie R. Dale
• Mindfulness for Bipolar Disorder by William R. Marchand
• My Bipolar Mind by Samantha Steiner
• My Bipolar Mind: Surviving the Chaos by Samantha Steiner
• Polishing the Facets of Life with Bipolar by E.M. Sebree
• Spiders, Vampires and Jail Keys by Brooke O’Neill
• The Bipolar Addict by Conor Bezane
• The Ups and Downs – A Bipolar Picture Book by Kat Owens

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Depression

• Dealing with Depression by Jan Marsh
• Depression: The Comedy by Jessica Holmes
• Furiously Happy by Jenny Lawson (memoir, humour)
• Getting By by Jack Trelance 
• Hello I Want to Die Please Fix Me by Anna Mehler Paperny
• How to Be Miserable by Randy J. Paterson
• How to Stop Feeling so Damn Depressed by Jonas A. Horwitz
• How to Tell Depression to Piss Off by James Withey
• Lost Connections by Johann Hari
• Reasons to Stay Alive by Matt Haig
• The ACT Workbook for Depression & Shame by Matthew W. McKay, Michael Jason Greenberg, and Patrick J. Fanning
• The Inflamed Mind by Edward Bullmore

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Eating Disorders

• From Famine to Feast by K. Michelle Pahl (bulimia nervosa)
• Royally Incomplete by TheInBetweenQueen (binge eating disorder)
• Stand Tall Little Girl by Hope Virgo (anorexia nervosa)
• The A to Z of Eating Disorders by Emma Woolf

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OCD

• Rewire Your OCD Brain by Catherine M. Pittman and William H. Youngs
• The Mindfulness Workbook for OCD by Jon Hershfield and Tom Corboy
• The Obsessive Compulsive Disorder Diary by Charlotte Dennis

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Pornography Addiction

• He’s a Porn Addict… Now What? by Tony Overbay and Joshua Shea
• Porn and the Pandemic by Joshua Shea
• The Addiction Nobody Will Talk About by Joshua Shea

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Psychotic Disorders

• Alert and Oriented x3 by Leif Gregersen
• Anecdotes on Volunteering by Mio Angelo
• Good Days and Bad Days by Mio Angelo
• My Beautiful Psychosis by Emma Goude
• My Brother’s Journey by Marie Abanga
• My Colour-Coded Life by Megan Jackson Hall
• Raising the Alarm by Arron Whittaker
• The Collected Schizophrenias by Esmé Weijun Wang

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Stigma

• A Series of Unfortunate Stereotypes by Lucy Nichol
• No One Cares About Crazy People by Ron Powers 
• Nobody’s Normal by Roy Richard Grinker
• The Stigma Effect by Patrick Corrigan
• Written Off by Philip T. Yanos
• Your Mental Health and You by Sandy Pace

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Suicide

• Suicidal: Why We Kill Ourselves by Jesse Bering
• The Suicidal Thoughts Workbook by Kathryn Hope Gordon

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Trauma, PTSD, c-PTSD, and Dissociative Disorders

• Brain Storm by Shelley Kolton (dissociative identity disorder)
• Ghosts Within by Garry Leech (PTSD)
• Healing Sexual Trauma Workbook by Erika Shershun
• I Walk With a Limp by Barbara A. Lawrence (childhood sexual assault)
• If I Could Tell You How It Feels by Alexis Rose (complex trauma)
• Liar, Liar by Laurie Katz (sexual assault)
• Shattered by Patricia J. Grace (childhood sexual assault)
• Shattered by the Darkness by Gregory Williams (childhood sexual assault)
• The Body Keeps the Score by Bessel van der Kolk
• Untangled by Alexis Rose (complex trauma)
• You Will Never Be Normal by Catherine Klatzker (dissociative identity disorder)
• Writing to Heal the Pain by Mateja Klaric

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Therapy-Based Books

• A Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction Workbook by Bob Stahl & Elisha Goldstein
• Don’t Believe Everything You Feel by Robert L. Leahy (anxiety, depression)
• Escaping the Emotional Roller Coaster by Patricia Zurita Ona (acceptance and commitment therapy [ACT])
• Get Out of Your Mind and Into Your Life by Steven C. Hayes (ACT)
• Mindfulness for Insomnia by Catherine Polan Orzech and William H. Moorcroft
• Overcoming Avoidance Workbook by Daniel F. Gros (transdiagnostic behaviour therapy)
• Pocket Therapy for Emotional Balance by Matthew McKay, Jeffrey C. Wood, and Jeffrey Brantley (DBT—emotional regulation)
• Stop Avoiding Stuff by Matthew S. Boone, Jennifer Gregg, and Lisa W. Coyne (ACT)
• The Anxiety and Depression Workbook by Michael A. Tompkins (CBT)
• The Dialectical Behavior Skills Workbook by Matthew McKay, Jeffrey C. Wood, and Jeffrey Brantley

Other Mental Illness Book Reviews

• ADHD 101: Parents Edition by Sandy Pace
• Battered, Tattered, But Not Shattered by Marie Abanga
• Good Reasons for Bad Feelings by Randolph Nesse (evolutionary psychiatry)
• Heads Up: Changing Minds on Mental Health by Melanie Siebert (youth mental health)
• I Will Not Be My Mental Illness by Karina Pommainville-Odell (recovery)
• In the Realm of Hungry Ghosts by Gabor Maté (addiction)
• It’s Ok to Not Be Ok by Kim Lamontagne (mental health anthology)
• Reading Our Minds: The Rise of Big Data in Psychiatry by Daniel Barron
• Reflections: My Mad Memoirs! by Kristina Bryson (anxiety, humour)
• Safe: A Memoir by Elspeth Roake (trauma, attachment, self-harm)
• Shame Ate My Soul by Susan Walz (misdiagnosis, benzo addiction, stigma)
• The Silent Scream by Maria Alfieri (despair, suffering, and hope)
• Triumph by Trepanation by Nina Rabinowitz (depression, anxiety, brain tumour)
• The Unapologetic Guide to Black Mental Health by Rheeda Walker
• What Is the Worst Case Scenario? by Marie Abanga

Psychology & Wellness Book Reviews

• 52 Small Changes for the Mind by Brett Blumenthal

• A Fearless Heart by Thupten Jinpa (compassion)

• Be Kind by Melissa Burmester and Jaclyn Lindsey
• Blackness Interrupted: Black Psychology Matters by Nicól Osborne and Tamera Gittens
• Braving the Wilderness by Brene Brown (finding belonging)
• Bright-Sided by Barbara Ehrenreich (toxic positivity)

• Calm the F*ck Down by Sarah Knight

• Daring Greatly by Brene Brown (vulnerability)

• Emotional Agility by Susan David

• Find Your Glow, Feed Your Soul by Emily Silva
• F*ck No by Sarah Knight (assertiveness)

• I Lost My Little Apricot by Melody Finch (miscarriage grief)

• Living with Vaginismus by Victoria Johnston

• Mindful as F*ck by Emily Horn
• My Life in Lists by Nicole Barlettano
• My Wellness Toolbox by Alison Swift

• Nonviolent Communication by Marshall B. Rosenberg

• Own It by Caroline Foran (self-confidence)

• Radical Acceptance by Tara Brach
• Radical Compassion by Tara Brach
• Remember by Lisa Genova (memory)
• Resilient by Rick Hanson

• Self-Compassion by Kristin Neff
• Spite: The Upside of Your Dark Side by Simon McCarthy-Jones
• Strong at the Broken Places by Richard M. Cohen (disabilities)

• The Bullet Journal Method by Ryder Carroll
• The Book of Joy by His Holiness the Dalai Lama and Archbishop Desmond Tutu
• The Gifts of Imperfection by Brené Brown
• The Gratitude Project by Jeremy Adam Smith et al.
• The Handbook for Highly Sensitive People by Mel Collins
• The Happiness Diary by Barbara A. Kipfer
• The Illustrated Book of Mindful Meditations for Mindless Moments by Courtney E. Ackerman
• The Introvert Advantage by Marti Olsen Laney
• The Jackass Whisperer by Scott and Alison Stratten
• The More or Less Definitive Guide to Self-Care by Anna Borges
• The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck by Mark Manson
• The Year of the Introvert by Michaela Chung
• This Book Will Make You Fall Asleep from Andrews McMeel Publishing
• Thriving Not Surviving by Dianna Kelly

• Wherever You Go There You Are by Jon Kabat-Zinn 

• Your Wellness Toolbox by Ali Swift

Miscellaneous Non-Fiction

• 21 Lessons for the 21st Century by Yuval Noah Harari
• Just Another Day at Your Local Public Library by Roz Warren (humour)
• Let’s Pretend This Never Happened by Jenny Lawson (humour, memoir)
• On Tyranny by Timothy Snyder
• The Sense of Style by Steven Pinker (writing)
• White Fragility by Robin DiAngelo (racism)

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Poetry

• All She Wrote by Paula Light
• Bottled Memories by David Ritter (addiction & recovery)
• I Am the Architect of My Own Destruction by Juansen Dizon (mental health)
• My Heart’s Song by Maria Pratico
• Swinging Sanity by N.F. Mirza

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Fiction

• Finding Jericho by Dave Jeffery (mental health fiction)
• The Balance Between Life and Death by Elizabeth Holland (mental health fiction)
• The Vintage Bookshop of Memories by Elizabeth Holland (fiction)

• Novels by Melody Finch: Learners at Love series
  • We Hide What We Hate About Ourselves
  • Where Is This Place They Call “Home?”
  • This Voyage of a Lifetime

• Novels by Meg Kimball
  • Behold Her Majestic Fog (young adult fiction)
  • The Enervation of Eve (young adult fiction)
  • Unraveled (young adult fiction)

• Novels by Paula Light
  • Fiona’s Fling, written as Anna Fondant (romance)
  • Ghosted: Disappearing Acts
  • Switching Positions (political romantic comedy)

Reading is a wonderful thing. If you’re curious, you can find out why I like reviewing books.

Even if money is tight, that doesn’t have to get in the way of reading. Here are a few ways to get your read on for free.

Did you know that local public libraries often have ebooks that you can check out? Some of these can be accessed by the Libby app or Hoopla Digital.

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