Written Off: Mental Health Stigma and the Loss of Human Potential by Philip T. Yanos wasn’t available from the local public library, so I got a copy from the nearby university library. That difference in availability gives some indication of the nature of the book. I didn’t think it was overly textbookish, but at the […]
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The Happiness Diary: Practice Living Joyfully by Barbara A. Kipfer guides you through various self-reflection exercises and prompts to connect with the potential for happiness that already exists in your life. It’s designed to be used as a notebook and written in, and each page is beautifully illustrated. I’m always a tad wary of happiness-promoting
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Escaping the Emotional Roller Coaster by Dr. Patricia Zurita Ona draws upon acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT) techniques to help “super-feelers” work with their emotions more effectively. What is a super-feeler? It’s someone who struggles with emotional regulation, meaning they experience intense emotions and strong emotional reactions. The book focuses on emotional sensitivity; this is
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Swinging Sanity is the first book of poetry by N.F. Mirza, who you may know from her blog, Stoner on a Roller Coaster. The book is organized according to five themes, beginning with screaming numbness and ending with random reflections. Each section begins with an illustration depicting different facets of the author along with a
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Resilient by psychologist Rick Hanson looks at how to build resilience given what we know about the neuroscience of learning. Despite being grounded in science, it’s refreshingly practical and simple. The book begins by identifying three basic human needs (safety, satisfaction, connection) and ways to meet those needs (recognizing, resourcing, regulating, relating). These are set
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Bipolar Me by Janet Coburn explores her journey with bipolar II disorder. The book is made up of blog posts, which are divided into chapters based on theme. The chapters cover topics like the symptoms of bipolar disorder, the “med-go-round”, times of struggling, dealing with social situations, and broader societal issues. Each post is pretty
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The Inflamed Mind: A Radical New Approach to Depression by psychiatrist Edward Bullmore presents inflammation as a new frontier in tackling depression. The author’s bio at the beginning of the book reveals that he works at pharmaceutical giant GlaxoSmithKline. He doesn’t try to be subtle about disclosing this, and I didn’t pick up any overt
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Reasons to Stay Alive is by Matt Haig, a popular author with a whopping 243K followers on Twitter (including me). I believe this was his first book that delved into his own mental health; he has since followed up with Notes on a Nervous Planet (affiliate link). He explains that one of his aims with this
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How to Stop Feeling So Damn Depressed: The No BS Guide for Men by psychologist Jonas A. Horwitz is a how-to guide for men to take on depression and win. The author explains that this book is for men with severe depression. I found the use of the term “severe” a bit unclear. It didn’t
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My Wellness Toolbox by Ali Swift is a collection of the strategies that she gradually accumulated through her recovery journey after hitting her own rock bottom. Rather than preaching what does work, she shares what’s worked for her so others struggling with their mental health can get some ideas to try out for themselves. The
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