Best Books For Mental Health

Books are much more than just a source of entertainment. They can serve as a gateway to other realms, a link to a distant past or future, a philosophic stronghold, and a support network in times of need.

With just about everything happening in the wake of the current coronavirus pandemic, you may have recognized that you have little understanding of how to cope with prolonged isolation, worry, uncertainty, or the hundreds of other mental health issues that have become the new reality. To be honest, it’s perfectly understandable. The ability to survive in challenging circumstances, such as the one we’re in, is an acquired skill, not an innate personality attribute. It is a quality that most people haven’t had the chance to hone until now. We didn’t have an Emotional Education course where we did therapeutic exercises like we did sprints in PE.

Best Books for Mental health professionals 2022

Reading has the capacity to really transform your brain and establish new patterns within it, according to a study. On a pragmatic level, studying helps to gain new knowledge and skills that you may not have previously acquired.

While coping with a mental disorder can feel lonesome, mental illness affects 20% of the United States population every year. Psychotherapy and mindfulness are effective ways to get aid. Libraries and bookshops are brimming with books published by experts and skilled people for those wishing to master new abilities beyond the treatment.

Mental wellness and mental disorder books can help you handle your emotions, understand the functioning of human psychology, and discover skills and tools that can benefit you in your everyday life. They can add to your psychological health toolkit by offering a variety of approaches, scientific data, and tales from others who have had similar challenges.

Good books about mental health including those on anxiety, depression, self-love, addiction, relations, and other mental health topics can be beneficial supplements to any self-care toolkit, so we’ve compiled a list of some of the best mental health books to help you get going. These books are available in digital or print form in all major mental health bookstores.

Mental Health (A Person-centred Approach) – Nicholas Procter

Person-centered treatment is built on the premise of humanistic psychology beliefs. It encourages practitioners to combine theory and practice, as well as employ personal experiences to gain a deeper understanding of their patients.

Mental Health: A Person-Centred Approach is a practical book that will help reader to better understand the meaning of good mental health, mental disorder, and recovery. The book is worth reading since it explains core humane principles including social support, communication, and empathy.

It is an excellent tool for students, newcomers to mental health and therapy, and everyone who values human feelings.

How Your Mind Can Heal Your Body – David R. Hamilton

Because the mind and body are inextricably linked, physical illnesses precipitated by serious mental health issues can be difficult to discern.

Dr. David Hamilton, an author, has provided some ground-breaking answers for what keeps happening to our bodies at the molecular level when we have psychological problems. The book goes through how to utilize imagery as a therapeutic tool for chronic pain and other physical ailments from A to Z.

The revolutionary research and discoveries of Hamilton’s book are motivating, and the book encourages readers to take care of their own health.

Mosby’s Pocketbook of Mental Health – Patricia Barkway, Debra Nizette

Student nurses, medics, associated health care providers, and community service workers will benefit from this book. It contains credible references and solutions for coping with crucial situations, emergency services, and a variety of healthcare difficulties.

The book’s writers present it as a user-friendly guide with plenty of suggestions and pragmatic tips on the ins and outs of various medical scenarios. This work is one of the finest reads for any practitioner in the area, thanks to its handy size, realistic situational examples, and emphasis on recovery and wellness.

Personal Recovery and Mental Illness: A Guide for Mental Health Professionals – Mike Slade

For mental health experts of all specialties, Personal Recovery and Mental Illness is a must-read. It is based on a sound framework that emphasizes positive thought shifts and constructs mental health through a Personal Recovery Model.

This book discusses new levels of healing from psychiatric disorders and sees the patient distinct from his sickness, based on the premise of individual uniqueness. The book justifies its name and provides the road for therapists all around the world to grow in their area, thanks to case studies and interview samples.

The Mind-Gut Connection: How Our Bodies’ Secret Conversation Affects Our Mood, Choices, and Overall Health – Emeran Mayer

Recent research has discovered a strong link between brain and gut health. This book is a research-based exploration of how our minds and guts interact.

It delves into the root factors of several common occurrences, like why we become queasy when we’re scared or why some individuals get bloated when they’re upset.

Dr. Emeran Mayer, the writer, argues that comprehension of mental health issues including anxiety, obesity, depression, PCOS, and eating disorders requires a connection between the digestive system and the brain. The book provides a solid basis for health practitioners and has opened up a whole new world of mental wellbeing.

A Cognitive-Interpersonal Therapy Workbook for Treating Anorexia Nervosa: The Maudsley Model – Helen Startup Janet Treasure and Ulrike Schmidt

Eating disorders are frequently caused by a negative body image and the bad emotions that accompany it.

Eating disorders afflict the large bulk of today’s youth population, thus treating and assuring a favorable prognosis is a top priority for mental health specialists all over the world.

This workbook is without a doubt one of the most effective tools for overcoming Anorexia Nervosa, a difficult eating condition.

The book is organized as a guidebook with modules on:

  • The significance of a healthy diet.
  • Suggestions for creating efficient dietary plans
  • Recognizing one’s unfavorable eating habits-related thoughts.
  • Beyond the eating issue itself, developing a good self-image.

The Social Skills Guidebook: Manage Shyness, Improve Your Conversations, and Make Friends, Without Giving Up Who You Are – Chris MacLeod MSW

For mental health students, acquiring interpersonal skills can be life-changing, both technically and personally. Knowing the vocabulary of emotions and self-expression improves an individual’s likelihood to become a superior professional as well as a better person.

Identifying the core reasons for social phobia, relationship difficulties, and untrusting personality traits are aided by the Social Support Guidebook.

The book is divided into three sections:

  • Mental impediments to communication – Social awkwardness, low self-esteem, and lack of confidence
  • Listening and communication skills
  • Realistic suggestions for improving our own as well as others’ social lives.

(Don’t) Call Me Crazy: 33 Voices Begin the Mental Health Conversation – Kelly Jensen

Sadly, terms like “abnormal” and “crazy” have grown to have a bad connotation for all of us nowadays. And it is up to us to break free from this prejudice.

Don’t Call Me Crazy is a masterful book on the social aspects of mental illness that makes it even worse. How we see others who are suffering from mental illness has a significant impact on their well-being.

This book’s writer has presented some startling truths about how we communicate about mental well-being and how we might. It advocates for a greater understanding of the human condition and debunks common misconceptions about it.

Depression: A Teen’s Guide to Survive and Thrive – Jacqueline B. Toner, Claire A. B. Freeland

Adolescent depression has a long-term impact on a person’s personality. This book has a great deal of information for children who are depressed or who are at risk of becoming depressed.

It explains the physiological and hormonal imbalances that express in one’s mood and affect, as well as some simple and easy techniques for successfully controlling depression in children and adolescents.

The Sexual Trauma Workbook for Teen Girls: A Guide to Recovery from Sexual Assault and Abuse (Instant Help Books for Teens) – Sheela Raja and Raychelle Cassada Lohmann

The worst part of childhood assault is that it typically goes unnoticed for a long time after the event. The Sexual Trauma Workbook is a therapeutic book that discusses sexual abuse recovery without being intimidating to readers.

It is strategic and self-empowering, which is why trauma experts and youth workers prefer it. The book includes anecdotes, practice tests, self-help ideas, and everyday activities to help the reader open up regarding their concerns without feeling ashamed or guilty.

My Strong Mind: A story about developing mental strength (Social Skills & Mental Health for Kids) – Niels van Hove

Kate’s narrative and the various life events she encounters are told in My Strong Mind. It’s a fantastic book for elementary school students, and it contains everything a youngster needs to develop a good outlook.

Most children may connect to the author’s examples of real-life events, such as addressing problems at school, battling with friends, and concerns with parents.

It raises awareness about how we can assist youngsters to recognize and solve their problems so that they can become self-sufficient. This book is a wonderful read for fostering emotional strength and mental fortitude in youngsters since it presents a wonderful subject in an easy-to-understand manner.

I See Things Differently: A First Look at Autism (A First Look At…Series) – Pat Thomas

The renowned ‘A First Look At’ series includes I See Things Differently. Pat Thomas, a psychologist, has revealed some astonishing discoveries on autism spectrum illnesses and treatment options.

The book includes stories and drawings to show what goes on within an autistic child’s mind and what we may teach them to fully utilize their internal reserves. The book is an important preliminary handout for preaching the word about child mental health because the language is kid-friendly.

Changing Minds: The go-to Guide to Mental Health for You, Family and Friends – Dr. Catherine Hanrahan and Dr. Mark Cross

Changing Minds is a large database of mental health and problem information that we can use for ourselves and the ones we care about. A famous psychiatrist, Dr. Mark Cross, laid the groundwork for this book, which was later brilliantly written by Dr. Catherine Hanrahan.

The fundamental premise promoted by the book’s advocate and the author is that everyone should have access to vital mental health knowledge. This thoughtful and informative handbook can help anyone worried about their own or others’ psychological health to de-mystify mental health problems.

Feel The Fear And Do It Anyway: How to Turn Your Fear and Indecision into Confidence and Action – Susan Jeffers

Have you ever considered what you are most afraid of and why? Have you ever considered what your life might have been like if you hadn’t been afraid?

Fear must be overcome in order to maintain good mental health. Whether it’s a dread of speaking in public, aging, altitudes, or death, fear in whatever form paralyzes us and undermines our strength and courage.

‘Feel the Fear’ includes tips on how to use positive thinking skills to cope with and overcome deep-seated fears.

Maybe You Should Talk to Someone: A Therapist, HER Therapist, and Our Lives Revealed – Audible Studios, Lori Gottlieb, and Brittany Pressley

As per Arianna Huffington, the creator of Huffington Post, Maybe You Should Talk To Someone is a “daring, delightful, and transformative book.” This is a thought-provoking bestselling book that is currently being developed into a television series.

Maybe You Should Talk To Someone is a lighthearted look at all the different aspects of being a psychotherapist and a help-seeker. This work is about being authentically yourself and choosing to take on one day at a time, from diagnosing to attempting to open up to a stranger. It delves into the collective unconscious and walks readers through the philosophy that underpins therapeutic sessions.

Good Days Start With Gratitude: A 52 Week Guide To Cultivate An Attitude Of Gratitude: Gratitude Journal – Pretty Simple Press

The importance of thankfulness for mental health cannot be overstated. ‘Good days start with gratitude,’ a best-seller guide on developing gratitude in daily life.

It is a 52-week typical method with activities that help us realize what we’re thankful for and how we might practice saying thank you to others and ourselves.

Radical Compassion by Tara Brach, Ph.D.

With all that is happening in the world, we require a great deal of empathy, both for others and ourselves. However, putting it together might be a difficult task. If you’re not sure where to begin, Brach provides a step-by-step plan based on forgiveness and love. Her RAIN insight meditation (Recognize, Allow, Investigate, Nurture) is a practical technique to deal with challenging judgmental views and emotions. Radical Acceptance, Brach’s other work, has also been suggested.  Both are useful qualities to acquire during this period, so it relies on your needs!

The Unapologetic Guide to Black Mental Health by Rheeda Walker, Ph.D. Walker, the head of the University of Houston’s Culture, Risk, and Resilience Lab, provides a special perspective into the black community’s mental health problems. The book offers a step-by-step guide to emotional wellbeing, from overcoming stigma to finding appropriate mental care in a system riddled with racial bias.

Why Does He Do That?: Inside the Minds of Angry and Controlling Men – Lundy Bancroft

Depression in teenagers and young adults is frequently caused by toxic relationships. Failure to effectively release negative feelings can lead to substance abuse, self-harm, and depression among other mental health issues.

Recognizing the early indicators of an abusive partner and correcting what can be done in a humiliating intimate relationship are discussed in ‘Inside the minds of angry and controlling men.’ The book takes a customized and humane approach that students are able to apply to their private lives as well as their schooling.

Jay G. Silverman, a Professor of Medicine and Global Public Health at the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine (UCSD), expresses his approval by saying that this is the most educational and beneficial book on the subject of abusive partners without a doubt that has ever been produced.  Women who use the information in these pages to reclaim control of their life will be well on their way. 

The Man Who Mistook His Wife For A Hat: And Other Clinical Tales – Oliver Sacks

“One of the great clinical writers of the 20th century,” according to Oliver Sack, writer of “The man who mistook his wife for a hat”. His book opened up a whole new way of thinking about and providing mental health resources that individuals of all walks of life can benefit from.

Sack’s work tells the stories of people that suffer from perceptual problems and irrational mental processes. There isn’t a single aspect of mental health that the writer hasn’t covered, and yet the reader’s interest is never stifled. The book is a mix of nonfiction and fiction, and it stays true to its central theme of excellent mental health all the way to the end.

The Anxiety and Phobia Workbook by Edmund J. Bourne, Ph.D.

This is yet another renowned workbook (now in its 7th edition) that therapists frequently suggest to their patients who need to improve their psychological health skills. The activities are intended to teach you how to recast your ideas, silence worry, resist negative self-talk, and more, and they focus on fundamental CBT methods.

Broken Open: How Difficult Times Can Help Us Grow by Elizabeth Lesser

Finding meaning in a difficult situation is a core fundamental of growing resilience, which we all need to have a lot right now. While “meaning” does not have to imply an emphasis on personal development, it certainly may. Lesser blends together with other people’s stories, her own biography, and some practical information to advocate for how to deal with adversity in a way that puts us “broken up and reformed” rather than “broken down and beaten.”

The Courage to Be Disliked by Ichiro Kishimi and Fumitake Koga

The link between surviving in the face of a pandemic and letting go of other people’s views and demands may not be clear at first, but this book is chock-full of vital information. Which one of us isn’t fighting to set limits, communicate possibly controversial information, and navigate a difficult new normal? Apart from that, Kishimi and Koga discuss self-care and self-forgiveness, both of which are essential abilities.

When Things Fall Apart by Pema Chödrön

You are not alone if you’ve discovered yourself questioning how you are going to get through such a trying moment. In the face of terrible adversity, it is natural to feel intimidated and helpless. Chödrön, a Buddhist nun from the United States, tackled the age-old topic of how we can keep going—and authored a best-seller masterpiece in the process.

Soothe Your Nerves by Angela M. Neal-Barnett, Ph.D.

Soothe Your Nerves is an old classic that has continued to find current readers. Neal-Barnett delves into the many variables contributing to anxiety in black women, such as how stresses to be a “Strong Black Woman” can contribute to disregarding mental health issues, and offers a strategy for dealing with anxiety, panic, and terror.

Best Audiobooks for Mental Health

Get Out of Your Own Way: Overcoming Self-Defeating Behaviour – Mark Goulston and Philip Goldberg

We invariably wait too long to recognize the self-destructive thinking that endangers our mental health. This audiobook contains 40 self-defeating patterns of thought to be aware of.

This text demonstrates how to turn bad qualities of the self into positive ones, using components of guilt, reliance, harmful self-criticism, and self-pity.

The audiobook offers all we need to learn for bringing the desired changes within ourselves, with clear terms and an easily accessible tone.

Get Out Of Your Mind and Into Your Life – Paul Boehmer, Spencer Smith, Steven C. Hayes, and Tantor Audio

Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) is a type of therapy that promotes mental health in a unique way. This book encourages readers to embrace radical self-acceptance as well as an unwavering desire to change. It takes a methodical, step-by-step strategy that is simple to follow for readers.

It is prevalent among mental health experts who assist people in overcoming emotional difficulties and in providing a safe space in which we can thrive.

When the Body Says No: Exploring the Stress-Disease Connection – Gabor Maté

Dr. Maté dissects the mind-body connection, discovering correlations between chronic stress and common ailments including cancer, heart disease, and arthritis, using a mix of observations from his clinical practice’s patients and research results.

This book efficiently lays down difficult medical principles, making them available to all people, and provides a set of steps — The Seven A’s of Healing — to help readers avoid sickness caused by concealed stress.

The Future of Mental Health: Deconstructing the Mental Disorder Paradigm – Eric Maisel

The Future of Mental Health looks into the possibilities for bettering mental health interventions to improve happiness. It investigates how psychologists might improve their current skills and assist themselves and their patients in shifting therapy focus from sickness to recovery.

This audio content unlocks ways to revolutionize mental health care plans by providing powerful alternatives to traditional treatment options.