The Best Self Help Books For Depression

The Upward Spiral: Using Neuroscience To Reverse The Course Of Depression One Step At A Time

Depression is described as a downward spiral. Depression is a slump. It is difficult to claw out of it. But it doesnt have to be. The Upward Spiral: Use Neuroscience to Reverse the Course of Depression, One Step at a Time by Alex Korb gives readers advice on pulling themselves out of that vortex of negative emotions. This book is all about the small changes that help reduce stressful thoughts. There is no large, straight-forward solution to curing depression and increasing positivity.

This book is practical. It helps relax muscles. It has advice for getting better on the individuals terms. This book reshapes the brain. This book is based on scientific research on neuroscience, so it is based on facts. It is easy to read, and it is comprehensive. It reads well, and has plenty of steps for turning a downward spiral into an upward spiral.

• : Alex Korb PhD

Cognitive Behavior Therapy Made Simple by Seth G. Gillihan is a guide that helps with anxiety, depression, and other illnesses. The book focuses on 10 steps that manage the side effects of mental illnesses like panic, anger, and worry. This book has a simple approach to understanding cognitive behavioral therapy. Cognitive behavioral therapy seems complicated, but its actually fairly simple. This book makes it even simpler.

• : Seth J. Gillihan Ph.D
• Publisher: Althea Press
• Pages: 234 pages

• : Richard OConnor PhD
• Publisher: Little, Brown Spark 2nd Revised edition
• Pages: 384 pages

• : David Martyn Lloyd-Jones

Furiously Happy: A Funny Book About Horrible Things By Jenny Lawson

In this book, Jenny Lawson describes her own experiences with depression and how she emerged stronger on the other side. Since depression is often an invisible illness, there are more people than you realize who are suffering. Furiously Happy offers something for everyone regardless of where youre at on your healing journey. While Lawson talks a lot about depression, the core of the book is how to find happiness and joy. Check out Furiously Happy here.

The Cognitive Behavioral Workbook For Depression: A Step

As one of the most popular treatments for depression, cognitive behavioral therapy is proven to help minimize depressive symptoms and limiting beliefs that are holding you back. This workbook contains a CBT program with evidence-based tools to help you manage with stress and anxiety, and positive coping mechanisms to keep depression at bay. Check out The Cognitive Behavioral Workbook for Depression here.

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The Noonday Demon: An Atlas Of Depression By Andrew Solomon

Focuses on: DepressionType: Feeling Less Alone and Greater Understanding/Research

Solomon calls his book An Atlas of Depression and once youve covered about half of the 688 pages, you start to realize why: this is everything you would ever want to know about depressionthe personal experience of it, the medical experience of it, the pharmacological treatments, the history of it, the cultural interpretations of it, and of course, Solomons own struggles with it. The book is a lot to take in. What carries the book, though, is the combination of how well-written it is, along with the shocking severity of Solomons own story.

Im going to be honest. Ive been reading about depression and mental health for many years. Ive even suffered from some mild depressive episodes myself. I had no idea the depths this thing can reach. This is the only book Ive ever read that makes me understand why a person might choose to end their own life.

Reading Noonday Demon changed a number of my attitudes and assumptions that Ive had about not just depression, but antidepressants, therapy, and mental health. Had I read it while I was depressed, it would have given me more hope and helped me to navigate getting myself out of it.

Best Self Help Books For Depression:

But there is nothing to worry about as depression is treatable. We want to suggest 10 Self-help books for depression that can work like magic to manage depression and anxiety.

David D. Burns mentions the cure of anxiety, guilt, pessimism, procrastination, low self-esteem, etc., without drugs in this one of the good self-help books for depression.

He provides us with scientifically proven methods to immediately lift our spirit and develop a positive attitude in life. If you read this book with proper concentration, then you could overcome depression alone.

These methods include recognizing the causes of mood swings, removing negative thoughts from the very beginning, dealing with guilt, overcoming an addiction to love and approval, and many more. This is one of the best-selling books on depression. It will help you to find out effective ways to manage depression.

We all experience the occasional negative feeling of getting overwhelmed by our thoughts or struggling with anxiety about our daily chores. But if this negative feeling is a daily occurrence, we need to figure out how these thoughts negatively affect our lives. This book can be helpful for your anxiety and depression. If you search for books on coping with depression, then I will suggest this book.

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Overcoming Unwanted Intrusive Thoughts

Does your brain decide to remind you of all the embarrassing stuff youve ever done just as youre about to fall asleep? Intrusive thoughts are brutal and play a huge role in the experience of depression and anxiety.

Psychotherapist Sally Winston teaches how to take back control of your brain and quickly curb intrusive thoughts from ruining a good day or a good nights sleep.

Creative people need creative outlets. Certified art therapist Leah Guzman answers that need beautifully with this book. Creativity has been shown to soothe the mind, create new spaces of self-awareness, and create new, positive pathways in the brain. If youre an artistic creative, this book is definitely worth looking into.

John Teasdale J Mark Williams Zindel Segal And John Kabat

The Mindful Way Workbook can be read with or without also reading The Mindful Way Through Depression by the same authors. The exercises in this workbook are all based on mindfulness-based cognitive therapy, a strategy for overcoming depression that has been proven effective in a number of clinical trials worldwide. The carefully constructed workbook is meant to be completed in eight weeks, and promises to help overcome depression, anxiety, and stress.

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Best Rated Self Help Books For Mental Health:

1. The Antidote: Happiness for People Who Cant Stand Positive Thinking

The book is written by Oliver Burkman, it is a self-help book that responds to people to look for a positive side. Oliver has written this book from an existential perspective. Throughout the book, Oliver explained to bury negative feelings and embrace positivity.

2. Against Depression

Author of Against Depression is Peter Kramer. Peter has used unusual statements such as denoting depression as a physical disease that needs to be cured. Peter has also provided recommendations to battle depression. It is one of the best self-help books.

3. Change your brain, Change your life

Change your brain, change your life is one of the bestselling books of Daniel G. Amen. Daniel has helped his readers to fight depression with the help of brain prescriptions. Meanwhile, the writer has shared tips for controlling anger and anxiety.

4. Cognitive Behavioral Workbook for Anxiety: A Step-By-Step Program

The book is written by William J. Kanus and is one of the famous self-help books around the globe. The specialty of this book is the step-by-step program to recover from depression. This book is also used by psychologists as a workbook for evaluating the depression of patients.

5. Control Your Depression

6. Depression-Free, Naturally

7. The Depression Cure

8. The Depression Workbook

9. Full Catastrophe Living

10. Feeling Good

11. The CBT Toolbox: A Workbook for Clients and Clinicians

14. Hardcore Self Help

The Mindful Way Through Depression By Mark Williams John Teasdale Zindel Segal And Jon Kabat

If you have been trying to think your way out of depression, you know it wont work.

Mindfulness is about noticing your thoughts without reacting to them. This book uses the power of meditation to alleviate the symptoms of depression. The authors use strategies drawn from both Eastern meditative traditions and cognitive therapy to help you avoid thought patterns that contribute to feelings of depression.

This book is also good for people who are caught up in negative thinking and low self-esteem. If you are open to embrace something other than the traditional western psychotherapy, this is the book for you. There is an accompanied CD with guided meditations to help you get started too.

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The Dialectical Behavior Therapy Skills Workbook By Matthew Mckay Phd Jeffrey C Wood Psyd And Jeffrey Brantley Md

Dialectical behavior therapy is a type of CBT focused on distress tolerance and emotion regulation. Typically used to treat issues like borderline personality disorder, bipolar disorder, eating disorders, and depression, DBT is full of skills that all of us can benefit from. Especially during a time when we have to tolerate a lot of distress with no clear end in sight. This workbook is hands-on, comprising exercises and worksheets to help you learn and hone your skills. Ive loved my copy long since before the pandemic and cant exaggerate how many of the tools have come in handy these days.

Buy it: $22, bookshop.org or $16,

Can Reading About Depression And Anxiety Actually Help You

I think this list of books will help you better understand depression and anxiety. But you might still be wondering: will they actually help me deal with my depression and anxiety?

Well, Id answer that with it depends.

I love books. I read them every single day. But if youre reading a book with the hopes that it will permanently fix you, then no, none of these books will help you.

Theres a fine line between reading a book to gain a new perspective on a problem and reading a book to simply avoid the problem by intellectualizing it.

You could read every single book ever published on money and personal finance. But if you dont apply that knowledge and save and invest your money, youll still be broke. Youll understand why youre broke really well, but youll still be broke.

This seems so obvious when it comes to more tangible outcomes like money or losing weight or whatever. But when it comes to our emotional and mental health, we often believe we can just think the problems away.

Getting your emotional and mental shit together is a lived experience. You have to face and endure the pain, not rationalize it away. You can do it with a therapist or a family member or a good friend. In some cases, you might be able to do it alone. But no matter what, it has to be done, not simply thought about and analyzed.

Theyll make the work a bit easier. But you still have to do the work.

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Joan Mathews Larson Phd

While most books about battling depression are written by psychologists, Depression-Free, Naturally is written by a nutritionist. Joan Mathews Larson believes that depression and anxiety are both the result of various imbalances and deficiencies in the human body. Throughout her book, Larson offers tips for different foods, minerals, vitamins, and supplements for naturally boosting ones health and mind, thereby defeating depression for good.

Writing Style And Tone:

First, think about what kind of book that is likely to be the most helpful in your current situation, as well as the kind youd actually like to read. These two categories dont necessarily overlap. For example, you may think you want a clinical-sounding, research-backed guide through a particular condition or situation, but in reality, would find it so boring that youd never pick it up. And a self-help book just sitting on the shelf isnt helping anyone.

If you think youd respond well to something funny, or that it would help hold your interest, look for a self-help book that injects humor into its pages.

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A Mind Of Your Own: The Truth About Depression And How Women Can Heal Their Bodies To Reclaim Their Lives By Kelly Brogan Md And Kristin Loberg

Dr. Kelly Brogan is against antidepressants, since they can hinder the bodys natural self-healing capabilities. She believes that in order to cure the mind, we must cure the body.

In this book, Dr. Brogan breaks down the problems with conventional medicine, offering extensive research and medical findings. She sheds light on the root of depression explaining that its more than a chemical imbalance, but a lifestyle imbalance. Dr. Brogan offers a 30-day step by step program to help you heal from the inside out. Check out A Mind of Your Own here.

Emotional First Aid By Guy Winch Phd

An old favorite of mine, Emotional First Aid argues that mental health should be taken care of with the same urgency and attention as physical health. Winch outlines various emotional wounds, like loneliness, rejection, loss, trauma, guilt, and rumination and how to treat them. He provides clear and detailed guided instructions that feel doable and helpfula feat for advice on such deep and unwieldy emotions.

Buy it: $16, bookshop.org or $11,

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Mans Search For Meaning By Viktor E Frankl Phd

First published in 1946, Mans Search for Meaning is an enduring work on finding purpose and strength during great adversity. Frankls account of his time in the Nazi concentration camps has long been recommended as a source of solace and guidance for anyone struggling with despair and hopelessness in an uncertain world. At its heart, Frankls memoir revolves around his theory that the pursuit of what we find meaningful is what drives our survival.

Buy it: $14, bookshop.org or $8,

How This Fits In

There is some evidence that self-help books for depression can be beneficial. However, most of the books currently available in the UK have not been evaluated in randomised trials. There is some trial evidence for one self-help book based on cognitive behavioural therapy, although the evidence is difficult to generalise to primary care in the UK or elsewhere. It is still possible to recommend the cautious use of self-help books for some patients who might be more receptive to a self-help approach.

A self-help approach is often popular with patients and there are now many self-help books commercially available, although few have been empirically tested in trials.4 There have been a number of systematic reviews undertaken that demonstrate the potential benefits of bibliotherapy for a range of conditions including depression.5–7 Cuijpers8 summarised the literature on bibliotherapy on depression and Bower9 has extensively reviewed the literature on the treatment of anxiety and depressive disorders in primary care, although there was only one study included that examined depression. Both suggest benefits. However, many of the older studies in these reviews had devised their own self-help materials that are no longer available.

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Feeling entirely alone in their battle is a common feeling among those suffering from depression. That common feeling is so powerful and prevalent, that including You Are Not Alone on our list of the best self-improvement books for those battling depression was an easy choice. The book is comprised entirely of conversations with people with depression. They share their stories, their triumphs, and their lowest moments. Over the course of the book, readers will realize that they are not alone in their depression, and that their feelings are completely valid.

What Are You Hungry For: The Chopra Solution To Permanent Weight Loss Well

Amazon

• Helps readers understand their reasons for certain types of eating

• More than simply a guide to healthy eating

• Even though its not a traditional weight loss book, that component being included at all might turn some people off

• Can feel like any other book on weight loss and our relationship with food

Deepak Chopra is the self-help guru of our time, and any one of his books could be recommended for various reasons. “What Are You Hungry For?” will help you see your relationship with food in an entirely new light.

While this self-help book could be considered a guide to help with weight loss, its really so much more. Chopra does talk about losing weight and also gives a pretty regimented recommendation on what to eat. But he also digs deeper into the reasoning behind our desire to seek this transformation, and fulfillment is at the center of this argument.

Since change isnt easy for most, the book offers a lot of intention-setting tips to help readers determine the motives behind their goals. Attaching an emotion to the things you want in life, health-related or otherwise, makes it easier to stay the course when the going gets tough.

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The Antidote: Happiness For People Who Cant Stand Positive Thinking By Oliver Burkeman

Oliver Burkeman turns depression on its head in The Antidote. This book is perfect for people who arent fans of traditional self-help books, explaining that there is an alternative path to happiness. Burkeman offers a counterintuitive approach to healing, inviting readers to embrace their fears, failures and negative emotions. The takeaway: stop striving for happiness. Let go of your attachment to it, surrender to the unknown and that is when you will discover what it means to be happy. Check out TThe Antidote here.