Helpful books and resources

[Kazzl]

Hi everyone

Members often refer in their posts to books and other resources that have helped them. This thread is a place to list those books so all members can find them easily.

The titles might include scholarly, mass market and self-help books, specialist websites or blogs, podcasts, vodcasts or print or online journals or magazines. Please note BB has a list of websites and resources under Get Help, so maybe check there first for online resources. (Also note that we cannot include live links to online resources.)

To make things easy to find, please put the category of the content first in bold, then the title of the book and then, if you want, a brief comment.

Please note that anything listed here reflects the member's views only. Publications and other resources are not necessarily endorsed by beyondblue.

Happy reading!

[Guest_1643]

there are some nice ideas in Russell Brand's book on addiction:
Recovery: Freedom from our Addictions

i think it could apply widely and connect to ppl regardless of how they feel about or relate to addiction.

His two autobiographies are also interesting but maybe not super inspring in terms of overcoming Mental Health struggles.

[Guest_1643]

To my fellow PTSD affected folks -

Trauma and Recovery, by Judith Herman

It is intense and heavy. But I leart from it a lot.

And to be honest, I like Dr. Ramani on youtube who talks about narcissism. I think she's a bit intense on this topic, but she gives some good educational talks, where she explains terms and concepts such as bread-crumbing love-bombing narcissistic supply and the different kinds of narcissists.
It's maybe pop psychology, and Kendall Jenner recently did an interview with her which didn't make her look, well, sciency - but overall i can always get into a Dr. Ramani video!

Youtube pop-psychology speaker - she is a psychologist but a bit of "famous" one (as you can see by her Kendall Jenner feature).

[CalmCat]

Hi Guys,

For anxiety I really recommend, Feel The Fear And Do It Anyway by, Susan Jeffers.

It such a great resource with those who have SA.

Regards,

CC

[Guest_1643]

hi CalmCat, i like that book!

I also read her book Opening Our hearts to Men but found it very sexist.

[Guest9337]

Over the years I've amassed a small collection of helpful books.

The genius in all of us. David Shenk.

The winners bible. Dr Kerry Spackman

Changing Minds. Gardner.

educational psychology for teaching and learning. 3rd ed. Krause. Bochner. Duchesne. McMaugh.

Social Psychology. 10th ed. David Myers.

Foundations of Sport and Exercise Psychology. Weinburg. Gould.

Those are some highlights of one bookshelf.

Spackman is quite approachable and practical advice for living from a neuroscientist perspective - the daily affirmations through development of your own "winners bible" is actually a pretty cool method.

Myers is really quite fun reading for a uni textbook, so too educational psychology.

Gardner stands tall in the field.

[Guest_1643]

howard gardner?

[Guest9337]

yep

[CalmCat]

A great self help book that assists with life and work place anxiety is called "The Obstacle is The Way" by Ryan Holiday. I highly recommend it!

[missep123]

I really enjoyed the book 'The Art of Not Giving a F' (I'm not going to type out the full word but I hope that you know which book I am talking about!)

I highlighted some passages as it really related to me, I always have lived life wanting everything to be perfect so when anything goes wrong I spiral. This book really taught me that this is not sustainable to live this way.

Has anyone else read this? I found it refreshing with regards to mental health!

[Gabs_]

God, I wish I had found this thread earlier. Books are life.

Completely agree with missep123's recommendation of Mark Manson's The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F***. There is also another book written in a similar style called F*** No - How to stop saying yes when you can't, you shouldn't or you just don't want to by Sarah Knight. It has a hilarious flowchart in it that ends up getting you to "no" even when you feel guilty and should say yes.

Here are another heap of my must-buys:

1. Perfectly Hidden Depression by Dr Margaret Robinson Rutherford. It focusses on perfectionism and how you can keep a cycle of achieving and achieving to mask your depression. I read it and was like "holy shit, this is me in a book".
2. Reasons to Stay Alive by Matt Haig. This book changed my life. I bought it and it sat on my bookshelf unread for years. Then, during a horrendous bout of anxiety and depression, I grabbed it off the bookshelf and took it to hospital with me. Holy shit - it was just the right book at the right time.
3. The Body Keeps the Score - Mind, brain and body in the transformation of trauma -by Bessel Van Der Kolk. It's a very thick book with small text and A LOT of information, but definitely worth a read [possibly a book to read when in a good headspace].
4. Recovering from Emotionally Immature Parents - Practical Tools to Establish Boundaries and Reclaim Your Emotional Autonomy by Lindsay C Gibson. This one is really highly rated, so I bought it to give it a try. I'm not going to lie, difficult to read in places and definitely brought somethings to the surface, but there are some really good tips about establishing boundaries.
5. The Things You Can See When You Slow Down - How to be calm in a busy world by Haemun Sunmin. Written by a Buddhist Monk, it is a beautifully written book on finding joy in being calm.
6. How to Survive the End of the World (when it's in your own head) by Aaron Gillies. This is part autobiographical, part satire, part tips. It's an easy read and is considered a more light and comical anxiety survival guide. Definitely recommend for when you need something lighter. I know I felt deep relief in parts and could laugh and go "omg, thank you, it's not just me". He takes you through some his anxious thought spirals in a light-hearted way that allows you to step back and see the cyclic thinking of anxiety and where you can try to jump in and challenge those thoughts.

Happy reading all!