10 best books to help with anxiety, stress and depression

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YOU ARE READING: 10 best books to help with anxiety, stress and depression | Evening Standard AT PhebinhvanhocEN

this book could fix your life

who: helen thomson is an award-winning journalist with an interest in neuroscience. She more pertinently, she had her heart broken, she had IVF, she received donated eggs to have children, she suffered from chronic sleep deprivation and she bites her nails. in other words, she is fallible.

You are reading: Best books on anxiety and depression

message: thomson covers twelve core areas we’d all like to do and be better at, from finding (and nurturing) love, breaking bad habits and sleeping well, to feeling more confident, wiser and happier. small adjustments in behavior over time can lead to big changes.

Top tips: Use short, concise words of encouragement on first dates like “go on” and “I see.” break the phone habit by removing on-screen notifications. don’t walk away from difficult conversations. order every day. power pose and stand up straight. take the time to make friends.

useful? not as smug as it sounds; an excellent complete primer.

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chat

Who: Ethan Kross is a psychologist at the University of Michigan and director of the Emotions and Self-Control Laboratory. His inspiration for the book came from his father, who encouraged him from an early age to ‘go within’ to find the answers to his problems. he did it, and he does it.

Message: That little gremlin chattering inside our heads can lead us down the rabbit hole, but it can also help us solve problems and plays a vital role in self-determination. We can learn the tools to make this happen, says Kross, who has spent 20 years studying the subject.

Important tips: Use your own name and the second person “you” to address yourself. Imagine that you are advising a friend. project into the future and imagine what the “now” experience will feel like a month or a year from now. not so bad huh.

useful? perfect for people prone to chattering stress.

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The Panic Years by Nell Frizzell review

there is no such thing as normal

Who: Bryony Gordon has written openly about her mental health issues, from OCD, bulimia, and depression to drug dependency and alcoholism. His Mad World Launch Podcast featured Prince Harry. she is the founder of the mental health peer network, which gets people out of the house and connects them with each other.

message: stop criticizing yourself for how bad you are and learn what you can and cannot change. Acceptance is key, as is the book’s subtitle, “What My Mental Illness Has Taught Me About Mental Well-Being.” Topics covered include lockdown loneliness, low self-esteem, how to ask for help, why we worry, and how to worry less about the things that worry us.

top tips: ask yourself before you… spend money you don’t have, go back to bed, go on a spree, call work sick, cancel your If therapy does any of the above, will it extinguish or simply fan the flames of the ‘pilot light’ of your self-esteem?

useful? yes. Gordon’s candor about his own failures and how he coped with them is inspiring and oddly uplifting.

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who: Digital journalist kate lucey has suffered from depression for years, describing her as “a knackered little slut.” she got so sick of people telling her to “cheer up” or “pull yourself together, love” that she’s written this book about it.

message: a quirky and heartfelt memoir that sheds light on how it feels to want to die, when even getting out of bed seems impossible, why they tell you to eat healthier, drink less alcohol or that you go for a race, etc. it can be positively useless. and also why asking for help can be the hardest thing of all.

Top Tips: The horrors of social media addiction and the expectations of responding to work emails 24/7 are some of the big ones. Trouble for Lucy. has loads of positive suggestions to improve well-being, from the power of reading books and watching movies, to listening to music and breathing. yes, breathing.

useful? this will have great appeal to anyone who feels like they’ve hit rock bottom; it will also light up your friends.

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Who: Clare is a renowned travel writer and novelist whose topics include growing up on a sheep farm in the Brecon Beacons, following the migration of swallows from South Africa to South Wales, and traveling to boarded two container ships across the atlantic.

Message: Clare traces a very different kind of journey here: that of having a complete mental breakdown. describes the various stages of his illness, from mania and psychosis and the section under mental health law, to taking the first small steps toward recovery and beyond.

Important advice: Don’t always accept the diagnosis you’ve been given, and don’t underestimate the effects that factors such as childhood trauma, drug and alcohol abuse, lack of sleep, stress, and not spending enough time outdoors can have effects on mental health.

Useful? compelling, beautifully written, and absolutely devastating. a balm in itself.

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who:psychotherapist henley did a thesis exploring the transformative and healing power of humor and the home page of her professional website features a coastal scene with a calm sea under cloudy white skies .

Message: Stress can be debilitating, but with the right guidance and exercises, you can beat it. you will need to understand what the triggers are and how your body reacts. don’t ignore the signs; your mind and your body are one.

Top Tips: Learn to challenge your negative core beliefs. practice breathing techniques to allow your body to relax. stop reliving the past. discover your safe place. banish stress from sleep.

useful? perfect for people who love lists and instructions. part one of a series of four “little” guides that also cover anxiety, depression, and self-esteem.

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who: timothy caulfield is a Canadian law professor who works in health, law and policy. he is also convinced that science, when used correctly, has all or almost all the answers.

message: the increase in misinformation directly affects our stress levels when making thousands of daily decisions. From making another cup of coffee and attending another pointless meeting to washing your hands again or deciding whether to have sex, it’s possible to stop worrying that you’re doing it all wrong.

Important advice: You should stop feeling pressured to floss, increase those 10,000 steps, eat all that broccoli, put on your sleep monitor, or stop binge-watching TV. Many of the things that are perceived as bad for us are actually not.

helpful? packed with scientific evidence that challenges many common assumptions.

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who: elite sports star mind coach macpherson, aka the monkey whisperer, combines eastern philosophy, mind management techniques and a dash of neuroscience to help people tame your inner chatterbox ‘monkey mind’.

Message: We know that the chatty “monkey” part of our minds can easily overwhelm our thoughts, leading to insomnia, anxiety, poor decision-making, and worse. learn how to take advantage of it, as many of macpherson’s customers have done.

Top Tips: Chapters have headings like zen breathing, hollywood movie, kaizen, and neurobic which roughly translates to breathing slowly, visualizing yourself doing what you want to do, striving to make small improvements all the time. time and exercise your brain. There’s more, along with celebrity endorsements like Damon Hill, Pat Cash and Lord Drayson.

Helpful? If you can get past Macpherson’s silly jargon and ego, there’s some decent advice buried here somewhere and some interesting personal stories.

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Who: Kamm is a journalist whose severe clinical depression has left him terrified of crowds and being left alone, chronically insomniac and grimly introspective. it also led him to research and write this book.

message: the world health organization estimates that more than 250 million people worldwide live with depression but, says kamm, it is a disease as organic as, say, cancer; it’s treatable, and help is available. but you have to go out and find it.

Top Tips: There is no one-size-fits-all solution. In Kamm’s case, CBT allowed her to change her thoughts, which in turn changed his feelings. “A person suffering from depression can be trained to anticipate when negative thoughts will arise and consciously adapt their way of thinking. works.”

Useful? Kamm’s combination of up-close, personal, and investigative approaches make it helpful and insightful. he’s also extremely intelligent, compassionate, and well-written.

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who: With nearly 80,000 followers on instagram and a successful career as a motivational speaker and coach, the power hour podcast host has turned her mission statement on the power of an hour into a book.

message: hustle is overrated and if you’re one of those people who constantly thinks you “don’t have time” to do the things you want to do, like go for a run, write that book, or start that course, or even just relax… you can find the time by getting up an hour earlier.

Top Tips: Make a list of the new habits you’d like to form and the bad ones you’d like to break and commit to. if eating chocolate chip cookies is a bad habit, don’t have chocolate chip cookies in the house. Prioritize movement (Herbert prefers the term movement to exercise), good sleep, and healthy eating patterns. save time by not scrolling so much on social media. Limit email reading to certain times of the day.

Helpful? Very, for anyone who feels like their chaotic life needs a marie condo-style makeover.

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