.png){kind=logo}
MENTAL HEALTH & HAPPINESS
BOOK RECOMMENDATIONS
Here are a selection of the mental health and happiness books I often recommend to clients and workshop attendees:
1) The Mindful Self-Compassion Workbook
This workbook guides you through a range of exercises to help you be kinder and more supportive towards yourself. It’s by the self-compassion expert Kristin Neff and is a great way to learn how to challenge and overcome your self-critical inner voice.
2) You Are Not a Before Picture
I meet so many people who struggle with negative body image, so this book provides a refreshing and useful alternative way to view yourself. It includes tips and advice to make peace with your body and question diet culture and fat phobia.
There’s a common psychological trap, where we try to be happy by pushing away negative emotions and this ends up making us less happy. This book offers an alternative way to approach life and its challenges, based on the principles of Acceptance and Commitment Therapy.
This inspiring book by Viktor Frankl details his experiences in Auschwitz. He considers what helps us cope with even the darkest and most challenging experiences, sharing simple ways to find resilience and hope.
5) The Book You Wish Your Parents Had Read
By psychotherapist Philippa Perry, this book offers a great insight into how early life shapes the way we think, feel and behave. It explores the varied emotional messages that may be conveyed by parents, and considers how best to raise emotionally-healthy children.
6) Performance Psychology for Dancers
This is a great book full of practical, psychological tools to help dancers navigate training, improve performance and overcome setbacks.
7) Happy: Why more or less everything is absolutely fine
This book draws on a range of philosophical and psychological theories in considering what makes us happy. Written by TV illusionist Derren Brown, it offers practical and accessible suggestions for accepting life's difficulties and finding contentment.
8) Springboard: Launching your personal search for success
What does 'success' look like for you? With practical activities, this book encourages you to consider what's truly meaningful to you and create your own personal definition of success.
By renowned psychiatrist Irvin D. Yalom, this book offers an insight into human nature as he tells the stories of 10 of his patients. It’s almost like a series of short stories, with each tale showing the truly powerful and transformative nature of therapy.
I will keep adding to this list as I think of more recommendations, or feel free to contact me if you have any other suggestions!