15 Best Books to Improve Mental Health in 2023
Reading provides a way to escape reality, and it cannot be surpassed by other art forms. This point was unanimously agreed upon by the discussion group.
Bossard said: “When you watch movies and TV shows, you will see a complete picture. But reading novels is different. The picture of a novel requires the reader’s own imagination. In this way, the reader can participate and the reading will be more influential."
Huatulco gave an example of his own, which strongly illustrates how fictional novels achieve empathy. As a child, he lived in an orphanage in south London and stumbled upon the book Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain.
He said: "Life in the orphanage is not pleasant. This book takes me away from the place that makes me anxious every day. Every night at 9 or 9:30, I hold a small flashlight.
Reading one page at a time. At that time, I imagined that I was also drifting down the Mississippi River and met a steamer along the way. I also thought about where to eat and where to rest."
On the other hand, the rigorous narrative structure of the novel can bring a sense of order to readers with unclear ideas.
Burton tells everyone that her favorite novel to read in difficult times is CJ Sansom's "Shardlake" novel series. The background of the novel is set in the era of the Tudor dynasty in England, and it is about historical mysteries at that time.
A few years ago, Burton's debut work "Miniature House Craftsman" was a big success, but she was plunged into deep anxiety. At this time, Sansom's novel brought her comfort. She said: "I was often taken into a wonderful storyline to try to solve some mysteries. Then I solved my boredom well through reading."
Everyone agrees that this kind of rehabilitation novel is not necessarily lighthearted, it may be a story of suffering.
Whitton recalled that during his childhood, his father would often tell him the story of his childhood in Jamaica.
At that time, "there are often people who specialize in storytelling, especially during the harvest season, walking around the streets to tell stories of past slaves. These stories are quite tragic, but they also bear witness to the suffering that people have experienced."
To a certain extent, the attractiveness of dystopian novels is also for similar reasons. People can feel unexpected comfort. He said: "These novels are about how people go through trials and overcome difficulties."
Another way to heal the heart with books is to take out favorite novels and read them again. This is to allow people to re-evaluate themselves.
Hardy's novel "Tess of the D'urbervilles" is such a work. Bossard said that she has always been in touch with this book.
She said: "I was 15 years old when I first watched "Tess". At that time, I recognized the role very much. Ten years later, I picked up this book for the second time, and I only felt that Tess was too much. Pessimistic.
After another ten years, I watched it for the third time and found that her decision was understandable. Looking back at the same book from time to time is good for our lives, which helps us to better understand Knowing oneself.
We will find that we are like an onion. As our experience increases, our hearts are wrapped in layers."
Nowadays, the mental health of young people is of concern to the world. For young readers, reading novels can help to untie the knot. Reading provides a way to escape reality.
Nowadays, there are many works written for young readers who have not yet grown up. These novels can help young people to solve the problems encountered in life, such as school bullying, drugs, social exclusion, and other issues.
Here we recommend 15 Best Books to Improve Mental Health in 2023.
1. The Body Keeps the Score
Book Review: The Body Keeps the Score: Brain, Mind, and Body in the Healing of Trauma by Bessel van der Kolk M.D.
Recognize and heal wounds. The author has 30 years of cutting-edge research and clinical practice in the field of psychological trauma, and all treatment methods in this book have been verified by his own tests.
- When danger comes, the brain issues instructions to either fight or flee, and the danger passes and calms down. However, trauma keeps people stuck in the predicament of fighting and fleeing, no matter how hard it is to calm down.
- The human brain develops from low-level to high-level. The first level is the functional brain, which is fully developed before birth; the second level is the emotional brain, which is fully developed between 0-6 years of age. Therefore, the trauma experienced before the age of six will have a lifelong impact.
- Numerous studies have shown that social support is the most effective way to cope with stress and trauma.
- If adults and children are easily frightened or emotionally numb and cannot get comfort from humans, dogs, horses, and even dolphins can provide companionship and a sense of security.
- If child abuse can be eliminated in the United States, it will reduce the incidence of cancer by 1/2, alcohol abuse by 2/3, and suicide, drug abuse, and domestic violence by 3/4.
- Those helpless memories of trauma are stored in the tense muscles of the victim, or in the disability of certain parts of the body. So, don't hit your child, his body has never forgotten your violence.
- Perceive that all experiences are short-lived, which will change traumatic thinking and open the way to healing.
- People are like a hotel, and new guests are welcomed every day, such as joy, depression, anger, shame, and so on. Accept every guest's stay, no matter how bad the guest will eventually leave, come and go.
- Drugs can only relieve uncomfortable physical sensations, but will not teach people to self-regulate.
The key to healing trauma is to feel the past and the present, find your own island of safety, and truly relax. Ordinary people can self-heal their wounds through exercises, yoga, drama, body massage, etc. Serious wounds must seek medical attention in time.
2. Change Your Brain, Change Your Life
Book Review: Change Your Brain, Change Your Life (Revised and Expanded): The Breakthrough Program for Conquering Anxiety, Depression, Obsessiveness, Lack of Focus, Anger, and Memory Problems by Daniel G. Amen M.D.
BRAIN PRESCRIPTIONS THAT REALLY WORK
In this breakthrough bestseller, you'll see scientific evidence that your anxiety, depression, anger, obsessiveness, or impulsiveness could be related to how specific structures in your brain work. You're not stuck with the brain you're born with.
Here are just a few of neuropsychiatrist Dr. Daniel Amen's surprising--and effective--"brain prescriptions" that can help heal your brain and change your life:
To Quell Anxiety and Panic:
- Use simple breathing techniques to immediately calm inner turmoil
To Fight Depression:
- Learn how to kill ANTs (automatic negative thoughts)
To Curb Anger:
- Follow the Amen anti-anger diet and learn the nutrients that calm rage
To Conquer Impulsiveness and Learn to Focus:
- Develop total focus with the "One-Page Miracle"
To Stop Obsessive Worrying:
- Follow the "get unstuck" writing exercise and learn other problem-solving exercises
Discuss the change of the brain on the personality, the way of doing things, the way of thinking, and the further impact of this change on the brain. A very good book on brain science.
Written in 1999, I am looking forward to reading some more cutting-edge brain research books. Some of the methods for controlling negative emotional thinking are worth learning.
3. Hope and Help for Your Nerves: End Anxiety Now
Book Review: Hope and Help for Your Nerves: End Anxiety Now by Claire Weekes
Dr. Claire Weekes offers a practical program for replacing fear and anxiety with understanding and self-confidence.
It should be of interest to those suffering from panic attacks, stress, agoraphobia, stage fright, and shyness. --This text refers to an out-of-print or unavailable edition of this title.
After reading for 10 days, one hour of reading time a day is like chatting face-to-face with a psychiatrist to help me calm down a little bit. Whether you are anxious or depressed, try your best to reconcile yourself.
Of course, the author is not a literary man... But she is very sincere and sincere, and I can feel that she is a doctor/scholar who really cares about patients. For some friends with obvious anxiety, reading this book will get a lot of comfort
The original inspiration for me is actually quite big. Although many things are different when I know and understand, I feel that the nerve impulses sent by my neurons are getting stronger and stronger.
This is probably a good thing, but I don’t want my emotions. The changes are too ridiculous.
4. Recovery
Book Review: Recovery: Freedom from Our Addictions by Russell Brand
The difficulty of life is that it is easy to get addicted, but it is even harder to quit.
If we really forcibly break the addiction, we will ask ourselves: "What's the point of living without buying, buying, drinking, or eating skewers? It's better to be a monk directly!"
Since the cost of withdrawal is so huge, Then the question is, is there a systematic method of "quitting addiction", with strong operability, and sufficient scientific basis, that can really help us get rid of addiction?
The answer is, that it is true. At present, all major drug rehabilitation centers and alcohol rehabilitation organizations in Europe and the United States have adopted a set of "12-step addiction treatments", which has achieved very good results.
But it is a pity that for a long time, this set of "jargon" in the addiction circle has been covered with a veil of mystery and cannot be used by ordinary people.
What's so exciting is that on October 3 this year, the world-renowned British comedy actor Russell Brand published his third super best-selling book "From Addict to Rehab ( Recovery: Freedom from our addictions)".
In the book, he not only explained: "Why are we addicted" concisely and vividly, but also turned this "jargon" of the addiction circle into a four-step addiction guide that ordinary people can use.
Oh, by the way, Russell Brand is a very attractive man in the UK. He was elected as the Playboy of the Year by the British "The Sun" for three consecutive years.
He loves rock and roll, has a weird character and behavior, and is called "Uncle Weird". And his ex-wife is so famous: "Fruit Sister" Katy Perry.
You may be curious, why did a world-famous comedian write a book about quitting addiction? Brand himself said: "Before, we always let those experts and scholars who were never addicted teach us to quit the addiction.
But I am different. I am a heinous addict. No one of you can ruin your life more than I. a."
I was a child abused by his father, his mother had cancer, and I hate this world. So, I binge eating, drinking, smoking, drug use and even. "as an artist, he certainly tattoos.
But all the above did not prevent him from turning into a good boy. With the help of the drug rehabilitation organization, he mastered the methods of drug rehabilitation and helped himself to solve his addiction to tobacco and alcohol. Now he is a competent and good father.
Brand, who discovered his conscience, decided to write down the drug treatment guide he learned in a different way, hoping to save more ordinary people who are addicted but not going to the drug treatment center.
Thanks for his great kindness! Next, let's talk about Brand's point of view in detail: first, why we become addicted; second, how to use the four-step addiction guide to successfully stop addiction.
5. Healing the Trauma of Abuse
Healing the Trauma of Abuse: A Women's Workbook by Mary Ellen Copeland MS MA & Maxine Harris PhD
Trauma can turn your world upside down; afterward, nothing may look safe or familiar.
And, if you are a woman, studies show that you are twice as likely as your male counterparts to suffer from the effects of a traumatic event sometime during your life.
Whether the trauma is physical, sexual, or emotional, these events can overwhelm you, destroying your sense of being in control and altering your attachments to others.
If left unaddressed, the resulting psychological trauma can lead you to a wide range of destructive symptoms like anxiety, depression, substance abuse, phobias, personality disorders, flashbacks, emotional numbing, and nightmares.
This book offers proven-effective, step-by-step exercises you can use to work through and minimize the consequences of a traumatic event.
6. Maybe You Should Talk to Someone
Book Review: Maybe You Should Talk to Someone: A Therapist, HER Therapist, and Our Lives Revealed by Lori Gottlieb
Julie in the book had a funeral party with the slogan "It's my party and you'll cry if you want to."
And that chapter brought me to tears. What Julie prepared for her death and funeral, for her love for Matt and the people around her, was truly therapeutic, even to someone like me, who knew her merely as a reader of her narrative.
I see this book as a collection of stories, stories of the patients through the eyes of a therapist, and the story of the therapist's life through her own therapist.
Throughout this book, I realize that all of us have our own versions of our life events, each of which those a fascinating story to tell.
Every small emotion we feel and every action we take is not just a psychological knee-jerk reaction, but a reflection of our past experiences, which shaped our worldview.
It is astonishing how much we could uncover about who we are, just simply by asking "Why do I react or feel this way".
I read this book during the 2020 COVID-19 quarantine while making a life decision about whether to pack my bags and leave NYC, which I love full-heartedly and settled in for the past 6 years.
While all the characters in this book seem to develop a fear of death, isolation, or lack of freedom, the 2-month hermit life made me contemplate the meaning of life on the same fronts.
What do human connections mean to me? What do I want to get out of this life journey?
And what do I want to leave this world with when I am gone? I don't have the answers to all of them yet. Or really, to any of them. I just have stories I lived, stories I am living, and stories I will write with every decision I make.
I have always been a fan of stories. I love telling stories and listening to stories, reading stories and writing stories, watching drama stories, and singing songs with stories.
This book has reinforced my belief in how much strength stories have. So hi stranger, or his future best friend. If you have stories to share, I am all ears.
7. Codependent No More
Book Review: Codependent No More: How to Stop Controlling Others and Start Caring for Yourself by Melody Beattie
How important it is to have a healthy personality, and how important it is to care for and have warm childhood experiences. Pitifully many of us don’t. It is not easy to find in group life.
Once extreme situations arise, the defects of personality will emerge. Small ones become setbacks, big ones.
In the past few years, I have seen too many tragedies. For example, people have been chattering about how men treat her badly, and you have repeatedly made suggestions, and she still keeps complaining-going back to being abused-suffering-telling, until you lose patience until She has real tragedies, such as getting sick, committing suicide, such as enduring incest. For example, losing her beloved child.
In fact, this is a typical manifestation of mutual dependence. Her life has been magnified and filled with the shortcomings of others. She tells how much she has given her family. How pitiful the situation is. The real reason may be that she doesn’t love herself at all.
She feels that she is not worthy of love and enjoying a good life. Only when she gives her can she feel safe? Over time she turns into unwillingness, then turns into anger, destruction, and the other party The revenge, which leads to a real tragedy.
Most lives don’t have such concentrated conflicts. Some are just so lifeless, life is worse than death.
"It seems that I have never lived for myself."
8. Burnout
Book Review: Burnout: The Secret to Unlocking the Stress Cycle by Emily Nagoski Ph.D. & Amelia Nagoski DMA
Very simple and easy to read but a very powerful book!
It may be that I have too high expectations for this book, and it is not as practical as I imagined. And to be honest, a book about female burnout does not mention the menstrual cycle, which is quite disappointing. However, an interview with the author is more interesting.
If we divide human beings into two categories, one is more selfish to gain a sense of accomplishment from their own dreams and benefits, and the other is more empathetic to gain a sense of accomplishment by helping others.
It is not difficult to see that in today's society, more men are the former, and more women are the latter.
We have been thinking about how to change from the latter to the former, but why shouldn't the former become the latter? Melinda's moment of lift talks about wars and also mentioned similar ideas.
A self-help book that does not take the usual path: not only gives some ways to reduce stress but also explains from the perspective of patriarchy why women feel pressured in today's society. The biggest inspiration from this book is to realize my prejudices.
Asian women are the target of double discrimination in the West. However, in anti-discrimination and self-consideration,
I also inadvertently discriminate against fat people, especially fat people who are close to me: for example, forcing family members to exercise and lose weight in the name of health, laughing at the belly of the target, and so on. According to the author, this is sizeism as bad as racism and sexism.
9. Emotional First Aid
Book Review: Emotional First Aid: Healing Rejection, Guilt, Failure, and Other Everyday Hurts by Guy Winch Ph.D.
After reading this book, I wonder, what does a person with a strong heart look like? Don't be surprised, go and stay unintentionally? Open-minded? Lotte? More frustration, more courage?
I think these are all appearances or performances. Who can't sleep at night, who knows? The inner strength should be deeper, and only the part that you can see:
- know yourself objectively and accept yourself bravely.
- Know others and the world comprehensively, and accept others and the world frankly.
- Not only understand their own abilities and limitations but also understand the beauty and cruelty of reality.
- There is a love for life sober but without backing down and without reservation.
- There are hard work and dedication with a clear conscience, reasonable expectations, and fetters, and some redundancy gives way to unexpected surprises and disappointments in life.
Every one of us encounters various troubles in life. It is inevitable that there will be depression. Many times, depression is only temporary and will pass by itself after a period of time.
However, there are also many times when depression will last for a long time. So that it is like strained muscles and damaged internal organs, becoming a part of our life and affecting our quality of life. Therefore, we should take measures to help ourselves.
This book provides solutions to six common depressions in life. When you are rejected, lonely, lost, guilty, fail, and have low self-esteem, don't let yourself indulge in negative emotions.
Know that this is not you. You shouldn’t let yourself taste the bitterness of your emotions. According to the recommendations in this book, start actively saving yourself.
10. Best for understanding family trauma
Book Review: It Didn't Start with You: How Inherited Family Trauma Shapes Who We Are and How to End the Cycle by Mark Wolynn
Probably it is Intergenerational transmission of trauma Your problem is not your problem, your disease is not your disease " Tracing the root cause".
Throw the pot to the source and borrow the "supernatural ability" to cure the disease that is not yours. How many uses of psychological suggestion?
This book is poisonous and the identification is complete. In the beginning, I said that I was almost blind and then I went to Southeast Asia to ask for a guru.
I didn’t believe it. Later, I said that the memory of the grandmother’s massacre would remain in the granddaughter’s body.
The analysis is all speculation. I believe that trauma can be passed on from generation to generation, and I also believe that science can help explain it, but the explanation given in this book is too rough for me, and the references are not professional enough.
At the same time, even if one day we really have authoritative research to prove physiological heredity, the impact of the trauma and pain of the predecessors on the subsequent generations is still intricate.
Even if the biochemical principles inside are explained, the manifestations are varied, only Only by touching and exploring with the perspective of literature and humanity, and thinking about the dynamic relationship between memory, pain, taboo, and forgetting, can we understand our misfortune as people and families more accurately.
11. Best for self-awareness
Book Review: The Four Agreements: A Practical Guide to Personal Freedom (A Toltec Wisdom Book) by Don Miguel Ruiz
Went to the book club of Meetup, a very spiritual book club organization-the text is very easy to understand. For me, I think to be impeccable with your word, don't take anything personally, and don't make assumptions.
These three points are super simple for me--but always doing your best is so difficult for me. Ask other people, don’t you just treat work as work? Isn’t that external force asking you to do this? Everyone’s replies seem to be that this is what she (them) likes to do.
Uh, it turns out that I don’t hate work, but I don’t like it so naively? Should I try to find a job I like more? Hey, forget it, or brainwash me to tell myself that I like my job, do my best, and try my best in diet and fitness.
The beginning and the end are a bit like a magical witch doctor, promising a perfect paradise, cough cough, it also means a bit of stubbornness with some things in Indian Buddhism.
However, the author is based on some proven psychological foundations, such as attribution fallacy, and cognitive dissonance (rationalization), and some of the opinions expressed are very powerful, especially the judgment based on facts.
The four principles of not making judgments, being self-centered, making redundant assumptions, and doing your best to practice inaction are very beneficial.
Indeed, you should always remind yourself that it is a useful little book to blindly follow empty talk about your various assumptions and prejudices.
12. Attached
Book Review: Attached: The New Science of Adult Attachment and How It Can Help you find - and Keep - Love by Amir Levine & Rachel Heller
I am a typical anxious type, and what is ridiculous is that I continue to meet avoidant lovers. I always thought that I was abnormal, so I found all kinds of psychology books and even sought religious beliefs in order to appease my broken heart and bring it peace.
And this book easily solves all the problems. If I could meet it when I was young, my life might be rewritten.
To be in love is to be close, not independent of each other. Biological research tells us that being dependent is not a bad thing. If you want to be independent and happy, you must find someone you can attach to, and spend your life with that person.
As a faithful believer in energetics, I think the author’s categorical classification of the three types of attachment is too precise: Although it is mentioned that the safe type can exhibit the characteristics of anxiety and avoidance in different intimate relationships, for anxiety and avoidance.
Even in my personal experience, people’s attachment types do not exist naturally due to brain chemicals, but change back and forth in different relationships and getting along with different people.
Safety people will also become avoidant when faced with people who are too clingy and annoying, and the avoidant will naturally become anxious when faced with undesirable avoidance and higher energy.
In short, it is better to improve yourself to increase attractiveness. Don't be annoying.
I believe that humans like to chase advantages and avoid disadvantages. Animals who like to take advantage of instinct are more reliable.
This is a very good book on love psychology. I strongly recommend that you read it.
13. The Highly Sensitive Person
Book Review: The Highly Sensitive Person: How to Thrive When the World Overwhelms You by Elaine N. Aron
A very interesting book, I feel that it has a relatively large overlap with the HSP's own trait introduced, and there is also a lot of resonance during reading.
I feel that no matter whether you are an HSP or anyone with HSP friends around you, you can read at least the first few chapters.
The whole book is a bit long. Starting from the identify HSP, it introduces the various situations that such people may encounter in their growth, life, work, and society, and provides corresponding suggestions.
- Fortunately, this book gives some specific methods for sensitive people to deal with different incidents and also puts forward good suggestions about self-cultivation. It has considerable practical significance for sensitive people. Compared with some psychology books that only ask questions, countermeasures are crucial.
- As a sensitive group of people, the author has established confidence in sensitive people and spent a considerable amount of space telling readers that sensitive groups of people have their own unique talents. Colleagues mentioned suitable industries. This is the interesting part.
- Sensitive people can indeed find a lot of resonance in the book, and the sense of identity generated during reading is very pleasant.
- I don't know whether it is the translator or the author. The language logic of some paragraphs jumps greatly, and it takes a little effort to read, which seriously affects the reading process.
- Compared with the "useful" part of the appeal, some cases and some circumstantial language in the book add a sense of cumbersomeness.
In short, highly sensitive people are worth reading about. It is not said that they have benefited a lot, but they can also learn some useful things.
14. Loving Bravely
Book Review: Loving Bravely: Twenty Lessons of Self-Discovery to Help You Get the Love You Want by Alexandra H. Solomon PhD
A book that is very helpful for relationship management and cultivation. I probably still can’t read it half a year ago. If you know how to love someone from the beginning, it’s good, but it’s not too late to start learning again.
From the original family-parent relationship, and family atmosphere discussion, to the model setting of the intimate relationship you want, setting the boundary, and when you encounter problems with your partner, try to press pause and use an outsider perspective, self-care. Remember that behind an angry person is a hurt person. Hurt hurts!
I was in a relationship that was dying, so I bought it immediately. At first, I felt that it was not just a cliché, but after substituting the situation into it, I felt that the soul is tortured. In the past few years, I feel that I have been quite sensible most of the time, quarreling will be organized (?), almost not emotionally out of control (when I am out of control, hiding alone, or annoying friends), I pay attention to communication.
While reading, I felt that I was doing quite well, but it was of no use. The gap in understanding between two people has never been filled by love. Lead to doubt whether I have actually met love. So it seems that the subconscious is beginning to resist another person entering his own life.
Every time I fall in love, apart from knowing that I am very difficult to be loved and that the love I can give is not a big deal to others, there is very little that I can gain. It's a different kind, it's simply "alien" but not a special kind. I think I'm brave enough, maybe it's just not attractive.
15. The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People
Book Review: The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People by Stephen R. Covey