It is essential to keep a check on your mental well-being as much as your physical health. Although, talking about mental health issues may still be a stigma, there are books that help break the barriers surround this issue.
The Body Keeps The Score
Author: Bessel van der Kolk
This book talks about how trauma not only affects your mind but your body as well. Whether an unexpected loss, relationship or career failure or a near-death experience, trauma can change the way one looks at life and affect one’s ability to socialise, trust, and self-control. The author explores ways to help activate the brain’s natural neuroplasticity so that the person can get back on track.
We’ve Been Too Patient: Voices from Radical Mental Health
Editors: Editors Kelechi Ubozoh and L D Green
This collection of 25 stories and essays in the book talks about people who have experienced mental health issues and have overcome it. ‘We’ve been too patient’ takes the reader through what it’s like to be diagnosed with a mental illness, their life-altering experiences with therapy to unexpected hospitalisations.
Radical Compassion
Author: Tara Brach
As the famous saying goes, in order to give compassion, you have to learn to be compassionate to yourself first. In the harsh world that we are living in, a little bit of compassion can come a long way and ‘Radical compassion’ talks about where to begin and takes you through the journey of love and forgiveness.
First, We Make the Beast Beautiful
Author: Sarah Wilson
The author’s struggle with her own lifelong battle with anxiety is what makes the book so relatable and realistic. It may not seem very serious but anxiety takes a toll on one’s mental health and alters life. This book talks about the clinical symptoms of anxiety and more.
What Happened to You?
Author: Bruce D Perry Oprah Winfrey
There is no denying that our childhood experiences - good or bad - play a major part in who we are today. The experiences not only influence our personality but also changes our beliefs, thoughts and perceptions. Throughout the book, Oprah Winfrey and Dr Perry talk about people and their behaviour using personal experiences as the context.
Dear Friend, from My Life I Write to You in Your Life
Author: Yiun Li
Losing someone to suicide can be one of the hardest loss to cope with, it only makes you question what went wrong? This beguiling book talks about the author’s suicidal urges and how she overcame it. All books are available on Amazon.