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Self help books for young adults?

LibbyB
Community Member

Hi everybody,

I'm new here & this is my first post so I'm a little nervous but I was wondering if anyone had any recommendations for self help books? Specifically ones that might be more relevant for a young adult - I'm 19.

I've looked at self help books & listened to tapes in the past however they seem to be more targeted to an older audience who might be dealing with marriage or career stressors.

Even if you can recommend any non self help books such as a novel that maybe helped you through a tough period, that would be greatly appreciated.

To give you some context I'm struggling pretty bad right now with loneliness and my depression (My only close friend is studying overseas - if anyone has any advice on how to make friends after high school that is more than welcome too!). I've been taking antidepressants for a few months now but I'm not sure how well it's working.

I'd love something that inspires me to be a better me. Something that gives me the motivation to get myself up in the morning and regularly attending uni - maybe even attending the gym every once in a while!

I feel like this post was quite rambling... hopefully you can make some sense of it and we can have a chat 🙂

Thanks in advance.

1 Reply 1

Zeal
Community Member

Hi Libby,

Welcome to the forum!

I'm a 23 year old female, and I enjoy reading 🙂 I've had OCD (anxiety) for 10 years now, and I had mild depression in my early teens. 19 was when I suffered the most from mental illness actually. I am happy and healthy now, and live with low-grade anxiety, which sometimes spikes but is generally manageable. I am also on antidepressants, and have been taking them since I was 19.

It's tough when friends move. One of my closest friends moved back to her home country when I was 12. Two of my closest female friends moved interstate in January this year, and my only other close female friend is probably moving back overseas halfway through this year! My boyfriend of 11 months is the person I'm closest to. He's a romantic partner and best friend at the same time. However, I think I do need closer female friendships too.

I also found it hard to get motivated for uni in the past. Straight after Year 12, I did six months of a science degree, despite never having studied chemistry before. I failed two subjects and passed one. I was unwell for my chemistry exam (anxiety etc.) and didn't study for the other due to constant avoidance. I felt pretty bad about myself. The year after (2012), I switched universities and started studying an Arts degree. I had to pull out of both semesters of uni due to developing an atypical eating disorder. I didn't fail anything thankfully, as I withdrew before a certain date.

In 2013 I was in recovery, so did only two subjects that year (intro psychology subjects as part of Arts) and really enjoyed the content, as well as realising that I wanted to find out more about mental illness. I decided that year that I wanted to pursue psychology, so I did an internal transfer to Bachelor of Psychological Science for 2014. I am now in my third (last) year of study, and I'm hoping to counsel people with mental health issues as a career. I thankfully can now look back on my past as a series of learning experiences.

If you don't mind me asking, what are you studying? It's so important to have a genuine interest or passion for what you are doing.

Books I would recommend due to having great messages are: The Perks of Being a Wallflower, The Book Thief and Don't Sweat the Small Stuff for Teens. The Art of Procrastination by John Perry is really funny, and helped me feel less guilty about putting-off study.

Hopefully I'll hear back from you 🙂

Best wishes,

SM