recommend me some more, please!
Trauma, depression, anxiety, chronic self-hatred—whatever ails you, there’s always a solution, whether it’s altering your way of living, talk therapy, exploring your past by yourself through guided meditation exercises, journalling using helpful prompts, or doing body-based work such as yoga or dancing. Most likely it’s doing all of the above.
Learning also belongs to the above list of solutions. Knowledge is not only power but it can heal. Just like talk therapy leads to insights, reading, the act of acquiring new information, can give you a better understanding of what you’re going through and what can help (you have to apply what you read too, of course), and also validates your experience. So check out my current list of books which I’ve found helpful— I have yet to finish all of them. I read everything at once, you know, and keep going back to all of them once in a while. Some of these books are listed here for their usefulness to mental health professionals, not necessarily for my personal use only.
[There’s no ranking here]
- The Power of Now, Eckhart Tolle
- The ACT Workbook for Depression and Shame, Matthew McKay
- Notes on a Nervous Planet, Matt Haig
- The ACEs Workbook, Glenn Schiraldi
- Life’s Journeys According to Mister Rogers, Fred Rogers
- The Body Keeps the Score, Bessel van der Kolk
- The Science of the Art of Psychotherapy, Allan Schore
- Drama of the Gifted Child, Alice Miller
- Toxic Parents, Susan Forward
- How Can I Get Through to You?, Terrence Real
- Summerhill: A Radical Approach to Child Rearing, A.S. Neill
- Homecoming: Reclaiming and Healing Your Inner Child, John Bradshaw
- Self-Love Workbook, Shainna Ali
- Mothers Who Can’t Love: a Healing Guide for Daughters, Susan Forward
- Healing from Hidden Abuse, Shannon Thomas
- Self-Compassion: The Proven Power of Being Kind to Yourself, Kristin Neff
- Expressive Writing: Words that Heal, James Pennebaker and John Evans
- The Art of Loving, Erich Fromm
- Understanding Life, Alfred Adler
- Choice Theory, William Glasser
- When The Body Says No, Gabor Mate
- What They Forgot To Teach You At School: Essential emotional lessons needed to thrive, The School of life [Alain de Botton]
- The Emotionally Absent Mother, Jasmin Lee Cori
- Adult Children of Emotionally Immature Parents, Lindsay Gibson
- Facing Codependence, Pia Mellody
- Children of the Aging Self-Absorbed : A Guide to Coping with Difficult, Narcissistic Parents and Grandparents
- Rethinking Narcissism, Craig Malkin
- Coping with Trauma: Hope through Understanding, Jon G. Allen
- Schema Therapy: A Practitioner’s Guide, Jeffrey Young
- The Highly Sensitive Person, Elaine Aron
- On Becoming a Person, Carl Rogers
- Cinderella Liberator, Rebecca Solnit
- Playing and Reality, Donald Winnicott
- The Examined Life, Stephen Grosz
- Internal Family Systems Therapy, Richard Schwartz
- Theory and Practice of Counseling and Psychotherapy, Gerald Corey
- In Therapy: How Conversations with Psychotherapists Really Work, Susie Orbach
- Why Love Matters: How Affection Shapes a Baby’s Brain, Sue Gerhardt
- The Book You Wish Your Parents Had Read: (And Your Children Will Be Glad That You Did), Philippa Perry
- Cognitive Behavior Therapy, Second Edition: Basics and Beyond, Judith S. Beck
- Modern Man in Search of a Soul, Carl Jung
- The Gift of Therapy, Momma and the Meaning of Life, Love’s Executioner, Existential Psychotherapy, all by Irvin Yalom
- Moving Beyond Trauma : The Roadmap to Healing from Your Past and Living with Ease and Vitality, Ilene Smith
- My Mother, My Self, Nancy Friday
What else would you add to this list?
