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 Skills Workbook by Stefan G. Hoffmann
• You Got This by Caroline Foran 

Bipolar Disorder

• An Unquiet Mind by Kay Redfield Jamison

• Bipolar Me by Janet Coburn
• Birth of A New Brain by Dyane Harwood
• 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

Depression

• Dealing with Depression by Jan Marsh
• Depression: The Comedy by Jessica Holmes 

• 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 

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

OCD

• The Mindfulness Workbook for OCD by Jon Hershfield and Tom Corboy
• The Obsessive Compulsive Disorder Diary by Charlotte Dennis

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

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

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

Trauma, PTSD, c-PTSD, and Dissociative Disorders

• Ghosts Within by Garry Leech
• I Walk With a Limp by Barbara A. Lawrence
• If I Could Tell You How It Feels by Alexis Rose
• Liar, Liar by Laurie Katz
• Shattered by Patricia J. Grace
• Shattered by the Darkness by Gregory Williams
• The Body Keeps the Score by Bessel van der Kolk
• Untangled by Alexis Rose
• You Will Never Be Normal by Catherine Klatzker
• Writing to Heal the Pain by Mateja Klaric

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)

• In the Realm of Hungry Ghosts by Gabor Maté (addiction)
• It’s Ok to Not Be Ok by Kim Lamontagne (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)
• Suicidal: Why We Kill Ourselves by Jesse Bering

• 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
• 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
• 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
• Furiously Happy by Jenny Lawson (humour)
• Just Another Day at Your Local Public Library by Roz Warren (humour)
• Let’s Pretend This Never Happened by Jenny Lawson (humour)
• On Tyranny by Timothy Snyder

Poetry

• All She Wrote by Paula Light
• Bottled Memories by David Ritter (addiction & recovery)
• Confessions of a Wallflower by Juansen Dizon
• Emotions in Motion by Mathew Sackrider
• 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

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)

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.

Libraries

Did you know that local public libraries often have ebooks that you can check out? 

• The Libby App is connected with the Overdrive system used by most public libraries so you can access free ebooks and audiobooks.
• Hoopla Digital has partnered with libraries in the U.S. and Canada to offer videos, music, audiobooks, and ebooks.

Other free book options

• Bookbub: has a selection of books that are available free for a limited time offer
• Free-eBooks.net: members can access 5 free books a month
• Indie Book Lounge: books by indie authors
• Open Culture: a collection of classic fiction and nonfiction
• Open Library is part of the Internet Archive system
• Project Gutenberg: offers classics that are no longer restricted by copyright
• Standard Ebooks: a collection of books in the public domain