The 2018 Reading Challenge - #16 - A Book about Mental Health

Good Afternoon everyone  :)

Hope you all are very well today!

Today´s category is a bit of a serious one...well it is at least for me.

I thought about how this post should look...or what I should write...how much detail and how personal it should be...But in the end I think this whole Reading Challenge thing should really be something positive and fun so I´ll try to just talk about books and everything about those ^^

An other decision I had to make when it came to choosing a book is whether I wanted to go for some kind of self help book or just for a more or less fictional story with mental health as a topic.

So today´s category is - A Book about Mental Health and there are actually so many books which sound amazing and it was pretty hard to decide for one.

Feeling Good: The New Mood Therapy 

by David D. Burns

The main reason I chose this book in the end instead of a very specific depression or anxiety book ( even tho it is kind of mainly about depression and such) or something like this is that I think that everyone probably could find use in this once in a while ;)

Even if you don´t have any medical conditions including your mental health...I think everyone once in a while has a rough patch and maybe this book might help you :)

Again a little summary from goodreads:

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"The good news is that anxiety, guilt, pessimism, procrastination, low self-esteem, and other "black holes" of depression can be cured without drugs. In Feeling Good, eminent psychiatrist, David D. Burns, M.D., outlines the remarkable, scientifically proven techniques that will immediately lift your spirits and help you develop a positive outlook on life. Now, in this updated edition, Dr. Burns adds an All-New Consumer′s Guide To Anti-depressant Drugs as well as a new introduction to help answer your questions about the many options available for treating depression.

- Recognise what causes your mood swings
- Nip negative feelings in the bud
- Deal with guilt
- Handle hostility and criticism
- Overcome addiction to love and approval
- Build self-esteem
- Feel good everyday"

*

I´ll give it a...well nothing so far out of 10, since I did not finish it yet I won´t rate it either!
I will come back to that asap...If I forgot it just ask me in the comments down below ^^

I am not at the end of this book yet...that might seem like a bad start for this review, but...
When I chose a book for this category I was, like I said in the beginning of this post, in between seats...should I choose a novel addressing this topic or some kind of self help or medical book.
It actually was quite a hard decision to make to be honest. In the end like you can see I went for an actual mental health self-help book and I am glad I did.
The reason I did not finish this book yet is actually very easily explained and I hope easy to relay to.
I want to take time reading this, I want to take time learning what is in it and I wanted to take time to really interiorize everything.
Mental Health is a huge topic with many varieties. So you can choose topics ranging from severe mental diseases like schizophrenia or paranoia to those little bits every single one of us experiences from time to time. When I chose my book for this category I went for something I can relay to and something I experience myself or suffer from myself which is Anxiety and Depression, so I went for Feeling Good :) Whilst reading this I really learned a lot and really have the feeling that I learned something. This book is great for both those who suffer from mental health issues and those who have people with such issues surrounding them. I really think everyone might learn something by reading this! Its about feeling good no matter if you have everyday self doubt issues i.e. or if you really are struggling. I slightly have the feeling I can not describe what I mean so I hope you understand my point here ;)
I really highly recommend this book of cause especially to everyone who struggles with depressive feelings but I think everyone can only benefit from reading this ^^

For a little more inspiration and some alternatives or better many alternatives ^^

(all summaries are from goodreads and easily found when searching for the title):

It's Kind of a Funny Story by Ned Vizzini

Ambitious New York City teenager Craig Gilner is determined to succeed at life - which means getting into the right high school to get into the right job. But once Craig aces his way into Manhattan's Executive Pre-Professional High School, the pressure becomes unbearable. He stops eating and sleeping until, one night, he nearly kills himself. Craig's suicidal episode gets him checked into a mental hospital, where his new neighbors include a transsexual sex addict, a girl who has scarred her own face with scissors, and the self-elected President Armelio. There, Craig is finally able to confront the sources of his anxiety. Ned Vizzini, who himself spent time in a psychiatric hospital, has created a remarkably moving tale about the sometimes unexpected road to happiness.

Fans of the Impossible Life by Kate Scelsa

Mira is starting over at Saint Francis Prep. She promised her parents she would at least try to pretend that she could act like a functioning human this time, not a girl who can’t get out of bed for days on end, who only feels awake when she’s with Sebby. Jeremy is the painfully shy art nerd at Saint Francis who’s been in self-imposed isolation after an incident that ruined his last year of school. When he sees Sebby for the first time across the school lawn, it’s as if he’s been expecting this blond, lanky boy with mischief glinting in his eye. Sebby, Mira’s gay best friend, is a boy who seems to carry sunlight around with him. Even as life in his foster home starts to take its toll, Sebby and Mira together craft a world of magic rituals and impromptu road trips, designed to fix the broken parts of their lives. As Jeremy finds himself drawn into Sebby and Mira’s world, he begins to understand the secrets that they hide in order to protect themselves, to keep each other safe from those who don’t understand their quest to live for the impossible.

The Rest of Us Just Live Here by Patrick Ness

What if you aren’t the Chosen One? The one who’s supposed to fight the zombies, or the soul-eating ghosts, or whatever the heck this new thing is, with the blue lights and the death? What if you’re like Mikey? Who just wants to graduate and go to prom and maybe finally work up the courage to ask Henna out before someone goes and blows up the high school. Again. Because sometimes there are problems bigger than this week’s end of the world, and sometimes you just have to find the extraordinary in your ordinary life. Even if your best friend is worshipped by mountain lions...

A Tale for the Time Being by Ruth Ozeki

In Tokyo, sixteen-year-old Nao has decided there’s only one escape from her aching loneliness and her classmates’ bullying, but before she ends it all, Nao plans to document the life of her great-grandmother, a Buddhist nun who’s lived more than a century. A diary is Nao’s only solace—and will touch lives in a ways she can scarcely imagine. Across the Pacific, we meet Ruth, a novelist living on a remote island who discovers a collection of artifacts washed ashore in a Hello Kitty lunchbox—possibly debris from the devastating 2011 tsunami. As the mystery of its contents unfolds, Ruth is pulled into the past, into Nao’s drama and her unknown fate, and forward into her own future. Full of Ozeki’s signature humour and deeply engaged with the relationship between writer and reader, past and present, fact and fiction, quantum physics, history, and myth, A Tale for the Time Being is a brilliantly inventive, beguiling story of our shared humanity and the search for home.

Don't Panic by R. Reid Wilson, PhD

This self-help book demystifies panic and anxiety, and helps reduce (and possibly eliminate!) attacks. For anyone who struggles with panic attacks, it's a way to take control back in your life.

Overcoming Panic: A Self Help Guide Using Cognitive Behavioral Techniques by Derrick Silove

It is common to become anxious in situations such as job interviews, exams, or a public speaking engagement. For some, however, anxiety symptoms become so severe and persistent that they become disabling. In some cases people develop episodes of sudden and intense anxiety, known as panic attacks, with physical symptoms so severe that they may be mistaken for heart disease or a stroke. Some sufferers begin to avoid situations they believe will cause them stress, to the point that they become fearful of restaurants or supermarkets, or even of leaving their homes. Overcoming Panic has been developed as a self-help guide for overcoming and preventing panic attacks and associated agoraphobia. Based on the clinically proven techniques of cognitive behavioral therapy, this step-by-step management program will be indispensable for those affected, as well as their families and friends, psychologists, and those in the medical profession.

Rewire Your Anxious Brain: How to Use the Neuroscience of Fear to End Anxiety, Panic, and Worry by Catherine M. Pittman

Do you ever wonder what is happening inside your brain when you feel anxious, panicked, and worried? In Rewire Your Anxious Brain, psychologist Catherine Pittman and author Elizabeth Karle offer a unique, evidence-based solution to overcoming anxiety based in cutting-edge neuroscience and research. In the book, you will learn how the amygdala and cortex (both important parts of the brain) are essential players in the neuropsychology of anxiety. The amygdala acts as a primal response, and oftentimes, when this part of the brain processes fear, you may not even understand why you are afraid. By comparison, the cortex is the center of “worry.” That is, obsessing, ruminating, and dwelling on things that may or may not happen. In the book, Pittman and Karle make it simple by offering specific examples of how to manage fear by tapping into both of these pathways in the brain. As you read, you’ll gain a greater understanding how anxiety is created in the brain, and as a result, you will feel empowered and motivated to overcome it. The brain is a powerful tool, and the more you work to change the way you respond to fear, the more resilient you will become. Using the practical self-assessments and proven-effective techniques in this book, you will learn to literally “rewire” the brain processes that lie at the root of your fears.

The Happiness Trap: How to Stop Struggling and Start Living: A Guide to ACT by Russ Harris

Are you, like milllions of Americans, caught in the happiness trap? Russ Harris explains that the way most of us go about trying to find happiness ends up making us miserable, driving the epidemics of stress, anxiety, and depression. This empowering book presents the insights and techniques of ACT (Acceptance and Commitment Therapy) a revolutionary new psychotherapy based on cutting-edge research in behavioral psychology. By clarifying your values and developing mindfulness (a technique for living fully in the present moment), ACT helps you escape the happiness trap and find true satisfaction in life. The techniques presented in The Happiness Trap will help readers to:

• Reduce stress and worry • Handle painful feelings and thoughts more effectively • Break self-defeating habits • Overcome insecurity and self-doubt • Create a rich, full, and meaningful life

Some more inspiration?

The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath

The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls

My Age of Anxiety: Fear, Hope, Dread, and the Search for Peace of Mind by Scott Stossel

Unholy Ghost: Writers on Depression by Nell Casey

An Unquiet Mind by Kay Redfield Jamison

Everything, Everything by Nicola Yoon

Mosquitoland by David Arnold

The Sky Is Everywhere by Jandy Nelson

Essential Maps for the Lost by Deb Caletti

The Silver Linings Playbook by Matthew Quick

Flowers for Algernon by Daniel Keyes

Holding Up the Universe by Jennifer Niven

Finding Audrey by Sophie Kinsella

After Birth by Elisa Albert

My Heart and Other Black Holes by Jasmine Warga

The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky

and many many more in these goodreads lists - 1, 2 and there are amazing collections on google

Which book did you choose for this category? There are so many!

Did you read a fictional or a self help book and did you read Feeling Good?

With lots of love

♥♥♥