Self-Help Books

9 Best Selling Books on Anxiety

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Best Selling Books on Anxiety

What are some anxiety books best sellers? What books can I read to overcome anxiety and live a more content life? These could be some of the questions you may be asking yourself. Know that you are not alone as there are several individuals trying to cope with anxiety disorders everyday. It is a common mental illness in U.S. impacting 40 million adults each year.

Undoubtedly, having anxiety can be a demanding, painful, and an isolating experience, but if there’s any positive take from years of rise in reported anxiety and depression, it is that there is an increasing number of great writing on the subject. Certainly, self-help books are not an instant cure or replacement for treatment but these books can offer invaluable insight and recommend effective techniques for improving your mind-set. Below you will find 9 anxiety books best sellers that you or an anxious person you know might find informative and even life changing.

1. The Anxiety and Phobia Workbook by Edmund J. Bourne PhD

The Anxiety and Phobia Workbook by Edmund J. Bourne PhD

The revised and seventh edition by Edmund J. Bourne PhD is an evidence based workbook containing a broad array of coping skills to deal with different anxiety disorders and panic attacks. It is one of those books recommended by therapists worldwide for individuals battling anxiety and phobias. The workbook consists of the utmost effective skills for evaluating and treating anxiety, you will find a great deal of tools for calming anxiety, ways of putting a stop to negative-self talk and learning to take command of your anxious thoughts. It also includes:

  • Techniques for relaxation and breathing
  • Fresh research on exposure therapy to manage phobias
  • Useful tips on mindfulness, nutrition, exercise and lifestyle changes which will impact anxiety

The Anxiety and Phobia Workbook has been written by an expert in cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) field with the latest clinical research which intend demonstrates the books credibility. In a phased manner, the workbook outlines treatment approaches for agoraphobia, panic disorders, obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), generalized anxiety disorder (GAD), worry, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), and fear. In addition, this revised version also has new information on avoiding relapse after effective treatment and recent updates on medication and more.

The workbook can be used on its own or in conjunction with therapy. What is most appreciated is the how comprehensive the workbook is and assists a great deal in getting you back in control of your life. The Anxiety and Phobia Workbook is a great resource for the spouses, family or friends of people who experience anxiety as they too can gain an understanding of the disorder and learn how they can be supportive during periods of heightened anxiety or panic attacks.

2. Dare: The New Way to End Anxiety and Stop Panic Attacks Fast by Barry McDonagh  

Dare: The New Way to End Anxiety and Stop Panic Attacks Fast by Barry McDonagh

This is a comprehensive guide for individuals who think that life without anxiety and panic attacks is impossible. The author bases the book on science and his personal experience in assisting anxiety sufferers, revealing his utmost effective technique called DARE. The tools, factual information, exemplary scenarios and thorough explanations in this book are simple and indeed motivational as it inspires you to take the step and change your life.

In this comprehensive anxiety guide you will learn:

  • Tools to help put a stop to panic attacks and feelings of general anxiety
  • To face any anxious situations which you could be avoiding
  • To cease anxious or intrusive thoughts
  • To use the appropriate supplements for anxiety relieve
  • Enhance your confidence and boost self esteem
  • Tips to be free of anxiety to get a good night’s sleep

The book also comes with additional resources, like access details to App for your smartphone together with four audios for anxiety relief.

3. Hardcore Self Help: F**k Anxiety by Robert Duff Ph.D

Hardcore Self Help: F**k Anxiety by Robert Duff Ph.D

This is certainly not the traditional self-help book and is likely not for everyone. However if you like honest hard truth, straightforward advise and don’t mind some strong language then this anxiety book will be great for you. The author talks more like a friend or a fellow mate who also suffers from anxiety. Not only does this book provide coping mechanisms but makes you feel like you have someone to talk to.

The material is not exactly brand new as there are other anxiety books with same coverage, but what makes this anxiety book stand out is the distinctive delivery of the details in an easy going manner. The absence of scientific jargon makes this book highly legible and able to reach everybody.

4. The Highly Sensitive Person: How to Thrive When the World Overwhelms You by Elaine N. Aron 

The Highly Sensitive Person: How to Thrive When the World Overwhelms You by Elaine N. Aron

This is a ground-breaking book by Dr. Elaine Aron. Being a highly sensitive person herself and a clinical psychologist, she provides detailed understanding on how to recognise this trait in yourself and use it to your advantage.

In this book you will discover:

  • Self-assessment tests to identify your specific sensitivities
  • Ways you can re-evaluate your past experiences in a positive light
  • Understanding and awareness on how high sensitivity affects relationships both personal and at work place
  • Guidelines on how you can deal with over-arousal
  • Information on medications available and when is the right time to seek help

Suffering from anxiety does not necessarily mean you are a Highly Sensitive Person, as well as people who are Highly Sensitive are not always anxiety sufferers. However, there is a lot of overlap. There is a high chance that a Highly Sensitive Person will be overwhelmed and feel anxious in social situations. Therefore it is vital to understand oneself and identify if there is a need to treat common anxiety or to effectively balance your life to avoid getting too overwhelmed.

5. Feeling Good: The New Mood Therapy by David D. Burns 

Feeling Good: The New Mood Therapy by David D. Burns

Just as the title states, the book is all about “feeling good”. Dr Burns has written a great anxiety book by providing tools for controlling anxiety. He explains exactly how to use cognitive therapy techniques to be free from negative thoughts and reduce depression. One can say with confidence that Dr. Burns has done a great job writing the best substitute to a real therapist. Feeling good is a comprehensive book and is filled with exercises for the reader to engage in, you can probably compare this book to 3 months with a CBT therapist.

In the present time it is extremely easy to let feelings like low self-esteem, anxiety, pessimist thinking and guilt keep us down and make us feel sad and lonely. Feeling Good: The New Mood Therapy, one of the anxiety books best sellers outlines several ways to handle these negative emotions.

The book communicates to its readers on:

  • How to constantly feel good every day
  • Ways on how you can deal with guilt
  • The reasons for mood swings and how one can address them
  • Learning to tackle negative emotions
  • Approaches to take to build self-esteem
  • Effective ways you can manage criticism and unfriendliness of others

6. The Anxiety Toolkit: Strategies for Fine-Tuning Your Mind and Moving Past Your Stuck Points by Alice Boyes PhD 

The Anxiety Toolkit: Strategies for Fine-Tuning Your Mind and Moving Past Your Stuck Points by Alice Boyes PHD

Do you frequently end up over analysing situations? Constantly worrying and only picture the worst imaginable outcome? Are highly self-critical and consider yourself a failure for anything you do that’s a little less than perfect? If any of the above situations resonate with you, you are most likely suffering from certain level of anxiety. Though decreasing your anxiety level to zero is not possible, what The Anxiety Toolkit can teach you is how to effectively manage these symptoms.

Dr. Alice Boyes has successfully interpreted evidence based tools from therapy clinic into techniques and tips you can apply in your daily lives. She has written an interactive book which provides an in depth detail on the causes of anxiety and clear steps to take to decrease this significantly. What makes this book stand out is that it inspires you to follow-through and action whatever you have learned.

7. Getting Over OCD, Second Edition: A 10-Step Workbook for Taking Back Your Life (The Guilford Self-Help Workbook Series)  by Jonathan S. Abramowitz 

Getting Over OCD, Second Edition: A 10-Step Workbook for Taking Back Your Life (The Guilford Self-Help Workbook Series) by Jonathan S. Abramowitz

According to ADAA, obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD) impacts 2.2 million adults, or 1.0% of the U.S. population. If you are one of them then this book can be an effective tool for you. Getting Over OCD comes highly recommended as the author, a leading OCD specialist, Jonathan S. Abramowitz has innovatively presented powerful approaches and techniques that you won’t get from other OCD books. He has made the process simpler by spending an appropriate amount of time in assisting the readers to improve their thought process first before leaping into changing habits.

The workbook is comprehensively updated and based on cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) which is an effective treatment of this anxiety disorder. The workbook Getting Over OCD will assist you in:

  • Understanding just how OCD affects your body and mind
  • Overcoming obsessional thoughts and compulsive behaviours
  • Finding relief from your intrusive thoughts
  • Getting rid of compulsive rituals
  • Mitigating anxiety and enhancing your relationships
  • Developing a tailored plan for change

8. Full Catastrophe Living (Revised Edition): Using the Wisdom of Your Body and Mind to Face Stress, Pain, and Illness by Jon Kabat-Zinn and Thich Nhat Hanh

Full Catastrophe Living (Revised Edition): Using the Wisdom of Your Body and Mind to Face Stress, Pain, and Illness by Jon Kabat-Zinn and Thich Nhat Hanh

Based on Jon Kabat-Zinn’s well-known mindfulness-based stress reduction program, this book has breakthrough work on mindfulness, meditation, and healing. Full catastrophe living demonstrations ways you can use medically proven mind-body techniques from meditation and yoga to alleviate stress and form better balance of body and mind. By incorporating these mindfulness practices in your life, you can learn to manage lasting pain from illness and stress-related disorders, significantly decrease anxiety and feelings of panic, and advance the overall quality of your life and relationships.

Stress is all around us and more often than not it gets inside us, drains our energy, deteriorates our health, and makes us susceptible to anxiety and depression. This book is suitable for both young and the mature or any person wanting to live a better and stable life in the present time.

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

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

Psychologist Catherine Pittman and author Elizabeth Karle have provided a remarkable, evidence-based solution to overcoming anxiety. This book takes a close look at the brain, exploring the two sections of the brain called amygdala and cortex. The purpose of explaining how these areas in the brain work is to provide the readers with power to be able to change the way they respond when they encounter anxiety, worry, panic or fear.

Anxiety begins in the brain, not the situation

Some of the learnings from Rewire Your Anxious Brain include:

  • Reasons why you sometimes cannot think when anxiety, panic or fear take over
  • How to get past a panic attack quicker
  • Ways in which your past affects your anxiety in the present
  • How any object can end up producing fear in someone
  • Triggers and how they impact your anxiety, worry, fear or panic

This book will provide a greater understanding of how anxiety is created in the brain, therefore as a result, you will feel motivated to overcome it.

Final Thoughts

While the above listed anxiety books best sellers will assist you in understanding anxiety disorders and its coping mechanisms, you may still be wondering if these will actually help you with your anxiety? The answer to this really depends on the fact if you are reading a book with expectation of being “fixed” by merely reading it or you intend to action the learnings. Therefore yes, these books are beneficial as a starting point as it will give you perspective on what your anxiety is and where it comes from. These books will make the work a little easier, but you still have to do the work.

Books on Anxiety and Panic Attacks

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Books on Anxiety and Panic Attacks

Often people use the term ‘’anxiety attack” and “panic attack” interchangeably thinking it is the same thing because some of the symptoms of both attacks are similar which includes a rapid heartbeat, shortness of breath and dizziness. However, panic attack and anxiety attack have different features.

Panic attacks are a sudden surge of extreme fear or discomfort associated with other physical and mental symptoms. A panic attack comes out of the blue without any warning and it maybe a one-time incidence although people can experience it on a repeat mode. During a panic attack your heart pounds faster, unable to breath, feeling crazy or dying, feeling endangered or unable to escape, thus, triggering your body for a fight-or-flight response. It can occur as part of another disorder such as panic disorder, depression, or social phobia.

Anxiety attack is the buildup of high amount of stress that it reaches a level where it becomes overwhelming. It intensifies over a period and associated with extreme worry about some possible danger—whether real or perceived. The body’s fight-or-flight response is triggered when you are facing a challenging situation, under pressure or feeling threatened. The symptoms of anxiety may include, difficulty in breathing, restlessness, disturbed sleep, increased heart rate and dizziness.

Some of the common treatment of panic, persistent anxiety, or both includes therapy, prescribed medication, or self-help strategies.

Self-help books is a good way to learn about new techniques or try things that have worked well for others. Below are the books on anxiety and panic attacks that offer constructive ways to tackle both attacks.

1. Dare: The New Way to End Anxiety and Stop Panic Attacks by Barry McDonagh

Author Barry McDonagh explains how to manage your anxiety and have a powerful natural solution with a ‘Dare’ technique. The Author requests its readers to ‘Dare’ anxiety to do its worst. The book emphasizes on a new and faster way for anxiety relief by facing anxious thoughts and challenging them instead of feeding them into them and trying to ignore them. The book is based on hard science and over 10 years of helping people who suffer anxiety. The DARE practice can be used by everyone, irrespective of age or background, to live a life free from anxiety or panic attacks.

2. Hardcore Self Help: F–k Anxiety by Robert Duff

If you find the option of reading self-help books to be boring and it feels like a chore then Hardcore Self Help: F**k Anxiety is the read for you.  The main philosophy of this book is that the reader should not feel like a chore while reading this book. The author Robert Duff communicates bluntly and weaves swearing, humor along with loads of helpful and actionable information. The author talks to you like a friend and helps to learn about anxiety and how to find the weapon within yourself to eliminate it for good.

3. From Panic to Power: Proven Techniques to Calm Your Anxieties, Conquer Your Fears, and Put You in Control of Your Life by Lucinda Bassett

The author Lucinda Bassett shares personal techniques to fight back against anxiety and regain the power of her own life. Often panic attacks make you feel powerless and out of control. She provides an effective program, that teaches how to think differently and respond in a less anxious way. She offers skills and methods to transform anxious thoughts and negative self-talk and anxieties into positive energy and newfound freedom. Her approaches allow gaining a new understanding of themselves and their challenges when dealing with anxiety and disparaging worry habits into recently revealed compassion and confidence.

4. The Anxiety Solution: A Quieter Mind, a Calmer You by Chloe Brotheridge 

This book is for anyone who is looking for Anxiety Solution to become calmer, happier, and more confident young woman.

This book by Chole Brotheridge is for every anxious woman being at home, school, or at work, on their own or social situations – anyone who will benefit from anxious mums to worried teens. It also provides simple and easy to understand and learn actionable techniques that will make a significant change in your life.

I know what it’s like to be stuck in a cycle of anxiety. I used to feel as though fear and worry were a permanent part of who I was . . . but I’m here to tell you that it doesn’t have to be this way. The truth is, your natural state is one of calmness and confidence – and I’m going to teach you how to get there.

With her own personal experience and latest scientific research, the Author created a program which helped thousands of women to overcome fear and stress. This book provides simple powerful practical tools that help manage your anxiety symptoms and stay feeling better.

From identifying indicators of anxiety to understanding its root causes, Chloe takes a greater methodology to see anxiety in this modern world and what steps to be taken to better manage it. it shows how to take control of your life if you are facing social media pressure, perfectionism, or fear of failure.

Chloe takes an in-depth look at anxiety in the modern world and the steps we can take to manage it. Whether it is social media pressure, perfectionism or fear of failure, this book will show you how to regain control of your life. It provides easy practical methods such as meditation tips, breathing exercise and a self-care diary for curtailing anxiety.

This book is a solution if you want to spend less time worrying and restore your confidence and regain control of your life again.

5. How to Be Yourself: Quiet Your Inner Critic and Rise Above Social Anxiety by Ellen Hendriksen

Around 40% of people envision themselves as shy. Social anxiety is not just feeling shy or awkward or being fine with your friends but just cannot speak up in a meeting or gatherings – its more than just that. The author and clinical psychologist Ellen Hendriksen teach cognitive behavioral therapy to manage social anxiety to regain control of your life. Through her in-depth science, solid tips, and stories of real people who have risen above their social anxiety, she recommends some innovative ideas on how to overcome social anxiety.

Dr. Hendriksen went through the same obstacle of social anxiety and dedicated her whole career to help her clients going through the same. With her experience and knowledge, she manages to show the reader the root of anxiety and what causes it, and how you can revamp your mind with your behavior and shake off the dark clouds of fear and boost your confidence. Through her techniques, you will be able to think through the thrill of anxiety and feel comfortable in any situation, and knowing your true self is enough.

6. Pill – I have anxiety.: Emerging Methods on How to Control Anxiety and Panic Attacks. Regain your Happiness and Find Freedom from Depression, Stress, and Procrastination by Carl Bene

This is the right book for you if you are looking for the following:

  • Conquer anxiety and fear
  • Looking for more peace and relaxation
  • Seeking natural cures to disable panic attacks

It is normal to worry and be afraid about anything – do it for the right situation and the right amount. The outcome of an overdriven fear is a panic attack which usually feels like a heart attack. Panic attacks affect billions of people around the globe and the occurrence of panic attack differs in all people.

With many natural remedies and without medication people can overcome panic attacks if applied correctly and regularly. The key to control anxiety, phobias and panic attacks is to overcome your fear.

With author Carl Bene’s personal experience and years spent in studying and researching came up on new techniques on how to overcome social anxiety. This book covers a range of things on panic attack such as: symptoms of the attack, differentiate with other types of anxiety, strategies to overcome, tips to prevent, ways to manage panic attacks, different types of exercises and medications and many more. This book helps and guides you on different possible ways to overcome panic attacks and live a normal happy life. It teaches you how to use natural methods effectively to treat and cure this attack.

7. Anxiety and Panic Attacks, Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, Bipolar Disorder 3 in 1: A Guide to Overcoming Severe Anxiety, Controlling Bipolar Disorder and Panic Attacks by Herman Kynaston & Xavior Trafford 

Often people find themselves being venerable and weakened by anxiety that is at a point out-of-control. Due to anxiety and panic people leave in constant state of fear making their lives cripple. This book is a guide to put them on a healing path. The first step is to understand your fear; thus, you uncover the main reasons why your body is reacting in such deemphasizing. The author takes you on many facets of anxiety to understand and find ways for disorder. This guide teaches you to learn the following:

  • What is anxiety and why triggers panic attack
  • The important things you focus on curing anxiety
  • Practical strategies to lower your anxiety
  • Physical, emotional, and mental recovery techniques
  • The fallacy and illusions that fuel modern anxiety and panic
  • Building a personal recovery action plan
  • Managing stress and the obstacles life throws at you

Discover many ways you can stop yourself getting in the sphere of anxiety and its negative impacts. A life of calm, simplicity and control is within your reach. With this helpful guide recover yourself from anxiety and panic and live a stress-free life.

Final Thoughts

Finally, if you are here hunting online for books on anxiety and panic attacks on people who have lived these experiences like yours then you must be knowing how exhausting and painful these disorders are. It is very frustrating when people close to you do not have anxiety or panic attack and they do not understand those anxious feelings and reactions. There is no doubt that these disorders are very challenging, painful, and isolating experience. The good thing is that people are now sharing their experiences and research. You might find the above books on anxiety and panic attacks informative, insightful, and even life-changing.

Best Books on Anxiety

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Anxiety Books Amazon

Consider this statistic: In the United States, 5.3% of the total population will at any given point in time have depression, and the lifetime risk is 7-8% in adults, higher for women. About 40 years ago, the average age for onset depression was 29.5%; today it has halved to 14.5 years. Although the rates differ around the world, the incidence of depressive illness has risen dramatically since 1990.

Against this backdrop, many scholars have attempted to write and establish various methods of treatment such as cognitive therapies to explain why anxiety and depression happens. Some of these anxiety self-help books on amazon provide life-changing insights into how our thoughts and emotions interact.

1. Overcoming Anxiety: A Self-Help Guide Using Cognitive Behavioral Techniques by Helen Kennerley

This book is on national books for prescription. An updated edition of the best-selling anxiety book provides self-help program, written by Helen Kennerley. Helen is a UK based consultant psychologist with Oxford Cognitive Therapy Centre, specializing in anxiety, childhood trauma and eating disorders

Overcoming Anxiety outlines a range of anxieties and fears including panic attacks, phobias, obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), and generalized anxiety. The author covers the nature of anxiety and stress and accordingly provides an extensive self-help program with monitoring sheets in line with Cognitive Behavioural Therapy.

The readers of the book claim that the book presents a helpful plan for managing anxiety. What do the users of the book say:

  • It outlines affordable and simple steps that can be followed by anyone going through anxiety and depression;
  • Assists in identifying the unhelpful cycles and thought patterns going on in my head. It’s not an overnight fix although, the book gives critical insight into the reasons that causes anxieties and provides techniques to overcome;
  • The technique, if followed by the users boosts confidence. The book reader claimed that after reading this book one of her friends was visible getting more confident, to the point where she was able to stand in front of people and speak during their group presentation.

2. I’m OK – You’re OK by Thomas A. Harris

I’m OK – You’re OK was featured as one of the pop psychology booms of the 1960’s and 1970’s as the demand for the book was tremendous changing lives of millions, selling over 10 million copies.

The author Thomas A. Harris used Eric Berne’s work on Transaction Analysis as a basis for his own. The book focuses on the three internal voices that speak to us all the time in the form of archetypal characters: the Parent, the Adult, an the Child.

What does it take to be “OK”?

Harris observed that children, by virtue of their inferior power in an adult world, learn that “I’m not OK, whereas you, being an adult, are OK.”. Every child learns this even if they have a happy childhood, and many adults only overturn this basic decision after their parents pass on. Yet the important thing is that if we try, we can change that position. The book attempts to explain how we can understand other people’s behaviour better before making a judgement.

I’m OK – You’re OK provides a key for letting us out of a mental prison that we may not even have known we inhabit.

3. Feeling Good: The New Mood Therapy by David D. Burns

“If you’re willing to invest a little time in yourself, you can learn to master your moods more effectively, just as an athlete who participates in a daily conditioning program can develop a greater endurance and strength”

This anxiety self-help book outlines the key criteria to release yourself from your emotional prison. The answer is articulated as:

“Your thoughts create your emotions; therefore, your emotions cannot prove that your thoughts are accurate. Unpleasant feeling merely indicate that you are thinking something negative and believing it. Burns concludes that our emotions follow our thought patterns as naively as baby ducks follow their mother.

In his work at the University of the Pennsylvania as psychiatric Burns worked with pioneering cognitive psychologist Aaron T. Beck who believed that depression and anxiety was simply a result of illogical and negative thinking. And by consciously correcting once twisted thoughts, one could get back to normal.

When the author tried this new treatment for depression named cognitive therapy, he was amazed at how many of his chronic patients were relieved of their destructive feelings. He claimed that people who had been suicidal a couple of weeks earlier now looked forward to rebuilding their lives.

Prescribing books like Feeling Good to people who are suffering from mental health issues is called “bibliotherapy” and Burns is ranked highly by professionals.

4. Authentic Happiness: Using the New Positive Psychology to Realize Your Potential for Lasting Fulfilment by Martin Seligman

Martin Seligman noted that the science of psychology has always focussed on what is wrong with people and rarely gives attention to finding out what makes people happy or fulfilled. His work on feelings and helplessness and pessimism led him to research optimism and positive emotion, and how their presence could be increased in people’s lives.

Through this book, the author attempts to teach us about leading good and meaningful life. Authentic Happiness: Using the New Positive Psychology to Realize Your Potential for Lasting Fulfilment collates hundreds of research findings and makes various interesting points about some of the factors that conventionally thought to bring happiness. A few of them encompass the following:

Money:

A study concluded that people’s happiness does not increase on par with extra wealth. Seligman notes that materialistic people are not happy.

Marriage:

In a survey of about 35,000 Americans over a period of 30 years, the National Opinion Research Center found that 40 percent of married people are were very happy. He found that nearly all very happy people are in a romantic relationship.

Sociability:

People who spend a lot of time alone particularly report a much lower level of happiness.

Religion:

People with strong religious beliefs are consistently shown to be happier and satisfied with life than nonreligious. These people have lower rates of depression and are more resilient to setbacks and tragedy.

Seligman argues that genuine happiness arise through the slow development of your character and not simply the factors stipulated above. Character includes wisdom, knowledge, courage love, humanity and spirituality among other things.

This amazing book goes on to discuss the importance of developing strengths and whether our part determines our future happiness. After reading this book you understand the importance of gratitude and that the path to happiness is not mystical and can only be enjoyed by other people – the paths to it are clearer than ever.

5. A Guide to Rational Living by Albert Ellis

“If we know how we generate negative emotions through particular thoughts, especially irrational ones, we have the secret to never being desperately unhappy again”

A Guide to Rational Living is categorized as one of the most enduring books in popular psychology literature, selling over a million copies. The author brought to public attention a new form of psychology – rational emotive therapy (RET), which implies that emotion does not arise as a result of repressed desires and needs but directly originates from our thoughts, ideas, attitudes, and beliefs.

This book helps anyone to understand how their emotions are generated and more importantly how a reasonably happy and productive life can be yours through discipline. The book touches on topics such as lessening the need for approval, conquering anxiety, how to be happy though frustrated, and eradicating the fear of failure.

Conclusion

Could reading a book be as effective, or even better than drugs or psychotherapy in helping people with anxiety and depression? It is definitely worth trying. As one of the well-respected professionals in this field points out in Feeling Good, revised edition that his books cost about the price of two Prozac pills, and the upside is that there are no side effects.

Book Summary: Pregnancy Blues – What Every Woman Needs to Know About Depression During Pregnancy

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Pregnancy_Blues - Dealing with Prenatal Depression

Pregnancy Blues: What Every Woman Needs to Know About Depression During Pregnancy by Shaila Kulkarni Misri is a ground-breaking book that has seminal work exclusively focusing on prenatal depression. Pregnancy blues unravels this agonizing yet treatable illness by providing insight into the key social and biological factors that combine to create a hostile environment for depression and anxiety to thrive, as well as proposing the numerous effective treatments that exist.

Each year in the United States, well over 400,000 babies are born to depressed mothers, making prenatal depression the most under-diagnosed pregnancy complication in the country. The numbers are astonishing as the author also highlights that up to 70 percent of pregnant women go through a certain level of depressive symptoms, out of which 12 percent meet the symptoms of major depression.

Given the current global situation, this book may prove to be helpful to many to-be mothers as the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) may have added to the existing feelings of stress, anxiety, and depression. In addition to focusing on elements that pregnant women can control, they also have access to this useful resource to aid in alleviating uncertainly and stress.

Though pregnancy is considered blissful, there are numerous women out there whose excitement is often overwhelmed by feelings of fear, confusion, and sadness. Prenatal depression is seldom discussed and most often misunderstood as opposed to postpartum depression, which is well portrayed and accepted by the medical community.

This book aims to change that perception by focusing entirely on depression during pregnancy and making it a credible reference for women by including invaluable case studies and medical information.

The author, Dr. Shaila Kulkarni Misri, a prominent reproductive psychiatrist with 25 years of medical practice and research has been successful in offering hope, assistance, reformative actions, and laying the myths to rest on the subject through this book.

The fact that will particularly resonate with many is that all pregnant women are vulnerable during the course of their pregnancy. To which the author explicitly states: “If a woman (…) feels burdened rather than uplifted by her pregnancy, she should be particularly aware that while her physical health may be fine, there is something very wrong emotionally and she needs to seek help.”

Di. Misri also focuses on the cultural nuances of birth and pregnancy, she challenges the basic traditions and beliefs relating to pregnancy and motherhood by exploring the misinterpretations that have led to under-diagnosis and insufficient treatment of prenatal depression.

In the opening chapter, it is validating how the author talks about the numerous ways in which societal expectations and pressures, inner stress, and women’s distinct biology all work together to affect mental health during pregnancy.

“I believe it’s time to take off those rose-colored glasses and look at a picture of pregnancy that may not be as pretty as the one that’s been painted by the media but which is, for too many women, sadly more realistic.

Until we are willing to do that, we are unwittingly sentencing these women to continue hiding in plain sight, unable or unwilling to admit, perhaps even to themselves, that their experience of pregnancy is not what they’ve been taught to expect, and that what appears to be so joyful for others is for them a time of sadness, fear, and confusion.

These women need to know that it doesn’t have to be that way, that there is help, and that they cannot and should not be embarrassed or afraid to get the help they need.”

Noteworthy Learnings from the Book

  • Exactly how you can identify the signs and symptoms of depression-and recognise when to seek help
  • Information on the role of female hormones, explaining why women are more vulnerable to depression as opposed to men
  • How depression disguises itself in your physical complaints, such as back, stomach, or chest pain
  • The implicit connection between infertility and depression
  • The antidepressant debate, outlining the facts of specific drugs, their safety and when medication is the correct choice
  • The risks and benefits of breastfeeding and medication

In addition to above, the author also offers beneficial self-tests and resources, particulars on the alternative treatment options ranging from therapy to acupuncture and far more.

Why you should read this book?

Pregnancy Blues has a remarkable balance of clinical information in simple language, together with a multicultural perspective on birth and pregnancy. Dr Misri’s extensive experience in clinical practice and examining over 3,000 women a year in her pregnancy depression clinic adds credibility to this book.

During pregnancy, just like your body, your mind should be in a healthy state as well and this book helps to achieve just that. What can be appreciated most is how strikingly the author has given a voice to all women out there suffering from prenatal depression and assuring them comfort in their difficult time.

Prenatal depression is often masked in silence, shame, and denial, by having access to factual resources, such as this book, we can help ourselves as well as several women around us who may be silently suffering too. This book is filled with stories of women who took a step forward and transformed a potentially damaging experience into a manageable one that eventually brought them the joy of bonding with a healthy and happy baby.

Book Summary: A Guide to Rational Living

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A Guide to Rational Living - Dealing with Anxiety!

A Guide to Rational Living, by Albert Ellis & Robert A. Harper, is a praiseworthy self-development guide with practical and proven techniques to change your self-destructive emotions and behaviors. The book vividly demonstrates what you do to unnecessarily distress yourself and how you can overcome this to become an emotionally stronger person. 

With the on-going global coronavirus pandemic, this book proves to be particularly valuable as most individuals face unprecedented challenges in their lives; having to deal with emotional disturbance, extreme feelings of uncertainty, anxiousness, and recurring depressive thoughts.

The author, Albert Ellis (1913 – 2007) was one of the most prominent psychotherapists as he pioneered Rational Emotive Behaviour Therapy (REBT) which gained an extensive standing in the 1960s and is the basis of this book.

REBT is based on the concept that our thoughts generate our emotions and influence our behaviors. The author, Albert Ellis was certain that people can change their emotions together with their behaviors by debating their irrational thoughts with facts and reasoning. In this book, he highlights the top 10 irrational ideas that cause the greatest number of people to experience unpleasant emotions.

The author clarifies that the objective of implementing rationality is not to be more happy, but rather to make straight one’s thinking so that one is constantly less unhappy.

How to deal with anxiety

Observing your Internal Dialogue

Ellis explains that we humans as language-creating animals tend to articulate our emotions and ideas in words and sentences which effectually become our thoughts and emotions. So fundamentally, we are what we tell ourselves, and for any personal change, it requires us to initially look at our internal conversations. Do our internal dialogues SERVE US or UNDERMINE US?

On the topic of anxiety, Ellis emphasizes being able to challenge our irrational philosophies:

“…track your worries and anxieties back to the specific sentences of which they consist. Invariably, you will find that you are telling yourself:

“Isn’t it terrible that…” “Wouldn’t it be awful if…”

Ellis guides his patients to oppose these irrational philosophies with questions like:

“Why would it be so terrible that…?”

“Would it really be so awful if…?”

He goes on: “Certainly if this or that happened it might well be inconvenient, annoying, or unfortunate. But would it really be catastrophic?”

Consequently, in order to address any form of anxiety, Ellis marks:

“…verbal and active de-propagandization are usually essential. You must first realize that you created the anxiety by your internalized sentences, and you must vigorously and persistently ferret out these sentences and challenge and contradict them. Then you must also push yourself to do the thing you are senselessly afraid of and act against your fear.”

Never being ‘desperately unhappy’ again

Ellis goes on to highlight the fact that the greatest challenge for individuals today is having control over their emotional lives.

A Guide to Rational Living contains various records of therapy sessions between Ellis and his patients. Following is a considerable example of his advice to one of his clients suffering from depression.  

 “The best you can do, at first, is to observe your depressed state after they have already arisen. And then to see, by theoretical analysis and inference, that you must have brought them on by telling yourself some nonsense.”

“…this will often be difficult. For once your depression sets in, as you noted a while ago, you don’t feel like un-depressing yourself again; you almost want to stay depressed. And unless you combat this feeling, and actively go after your underlying sentences with which you created your depression, you will, of course, stay quite miserable.”

Now, the individual will face a dilemma: remain depressed for the foreseeable future or make an effort to fight the negative feeling by noticing what they did to initiate it.

 “A tough choice,” Ellis states “But if you keep taking the lesser of these two evils. That is –combating your negative feelings, then eventually the time comes when your basic philosophy of life matures. As a result, you will depress yourself much more rarely, to begin with, and have an easier time getting yourself out of your vile mood when you do unconsciously put yourself in one.”

The Ultimate Point

Are human beings RATIONAL or IRRATIONAL beings?

According to the book, we are both. We are intelligent but we still pursue immature, nonsensical, bigoted behavior anyway. The basic to a good life is applying rationality to the utmost irrational aspect of life, the emotions.

There is a mirror of Buddhism in the rational-emotive approach as it recognizes that no matter what happened in your past, it is the present that matters and what you can do NOW to improve it. The author, Ellis learned this himself as a child: that you don’t have to become upset by circumstances unless you allow yourself to be, it is always possible to control your reactions. Even though this form of therapy is tough-minded, it in fact signifies an optimistic view of people.

Why you should read this book

It is an excellent self-help book on psychotherapy without the use of psychology jargon making it fit for laypeople. It essentially delivers emotionally troubled individuals with all the answers they seek especially those suffering from depression.

A Guide to Rational Living can benefit anyone to understand how their emotions are initiated, and most importantly how reasonably happy and fruitful life can be yours just through discipline and more caution in your thinking.

You may be doubtful of the fact that reasoning is the way out of your emotional clutter, but Ellis’s revolutionary ideas that are supported by his forty years of cognitive psychology is the rationale that it works. 

Book Summary: The Seven Principles for Making Marriage Work

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The Seven Principles for Making Marriage Work

The Seven Principles for Making Marriage Work by John Gottman and Nan Silver is a very timely and research-backed book that outlines ways in which we can make the marriage work, and perhaps help with relationship anxiety that many are exposed to today.

With nationwide coronavirus lockdown, marriages have been put to the test like never before. According to Bloomberg, the biggest hike in the U.S. divorce rate was after World War II, when the returning soldiers were welcomed by wives, who had become accustomed to controlling their household by themselves.

On the same note, the lockdown due to COVID-19 evidenced an elevated divorced rate. ABC News cites forced proximity as the primary reason for divorce rates after the COVID-19 crisis.

The author John M. Gottman has very candidly stated in his book – The Seven Principles for Making Marriage Work that happily married couples are not richer, smarter, or more psychologically astute than others.

“But in their day-to-day lives, the couple have hit upon a dynamic that keeps their negative thoughts and feeling about each other (which all couples have) from overwhelming their positive ones. They have what I call an emotionally intelligent marriage.”

What can make a marriage work is astonishingly simple!

The author implies that mutual respect for and enjoyment of each other’s company is at the heart of his program.

Gottman’s psychological research has busted some of the myths about what leads to a happy and stable partnership among couples and partners.

Myths Busted:

Professional counselors iterate that poor communication between partners is the key obstacle to happy, lasting marriage. What they do not realize is communication is paralyzed in heated screaming matches. Very few people – maybe the Dalai Lama, are capable of being calm in magnanimous in the face of criticism.

Major differences of opinion will destroy a marriage.  Gottman reveals a shocking truth: “Most arguments between partners cannot be resolved.” For example, Lila wants to have children, Chris on the other hand, has no interest. And the list goes on:

  • Jamie always wants more sex than Lara.
  • Sheena wants to bring the kids up Catholic while John wants to raise them Jewish.
  • Roger always flirts at parties and Katy hates it.

Partners spend years and a huge amount of energy trying to change each other. But in practicality, the massive disagreements are about values and a different point of view for seeing the world.

Practical couples understand this and decide to accept each other.

Get a copy of the amazingly researched book to unleash other myths to saving a marriage or relationship!

Signs that couples may be on the path to divorce – if not soon then within some years if things do not change:

  • Starting a conversation with criticism, harsh words or contempt.
  • Stonewalling. This happens when one partner “turns off,” because he/she is not able to tolerate frequent criticism and defensiveness.
  • Flooding. When either partner is bombarded with verbal attacks from the other. When someone is attacked, an increase in heart rate and blood pressure leads to the release of hormones, namely adrenaline. When this becomes too common, both members try to avoid the experience by disengaging from each other.

Ways to save a marriage:

According to Gottman, marriage is ‘shared meaning’ – each partner supports the other’s dreams, ambitions, and hopes. No one person should sacrifice to make the other happy.

“Genuine friendships are equal”

  • Be familiar and interested to your partner’s world

Couples in strong relationships are in touch with their partner’s feelings and wants.

  • Turn toward your partner

The moment when you stop acknowledging each other, the relationship is on its way out.

  • Allow yourself to be influenced

This comes naturally to women, but men find this difficult. Happier marriages are those in which the man listens to his wife and factors into account her feelings and views.

As Gottman puts it : “ Better, Longer Lasting Marriages are those in which the power is shared”.

Why You Should Read the Book:

There are hundreds of books and articles on how you can improve relationships, but Gottman’s The Seven Principles for Making Marriage Work has the edge as its finds are backed by hardcore actual data.

The author, a psychology professor carried out a study based on over 650 real married couples over a 14 years period to understand and compile solid scientific data on marriage and the rationale for making it work.

Some of the people who came to his marriage classes were on the brink of divorce, however, after learning his principles their relapse rate back to marital misery was less than half the average for marriage counseling.

Book Summary: The Compound Effect, by Darren Hardy

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The Compound Effect by Darren Hardy

The Compound Effect: Jump start Your Income, Your Life, Your Success by Darren Hardy, publisher and editorial director of SUCCESS magazine has not only written one of the best sellers of New York Times and Wall Street Journal but also has created a plain-spoken practical guide to creating clear goals and undertaking the necessary to attain powerful results. Being in the self-improvement industry for quite some time, his book sums up on practical lessons on exactly how you can change your life.

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It is common for people to try to quickly fix or take one major step and expect to overcome all their problems and challenges. In his book, Darren Hardy explains that the key to success in any aspect of your life is controlling and making use of the power of the Compound Effect, which is the effect of small, consistent choices and the daily disciplines that compound over time, ultimately leading us to success – or to disaster, being subject to our choices.

In the summary of The Compound Effect below, you will be able to pick up on what the book is all about and what lessons you can draw from it. 

Driving the Compound Effect into Action

The opening chapter of the book is focused on the power of the compound effect. As you may be familiar with this from finance, compound interest leads to astoundingly huge returns where a penny doubling each day for 30 days ends up being worth over $15million. Darren discusses the concept called “The Magic Penny” where you are given a choice between taking a million dollars in hand or waiting 30 days as a penny double each day.

Likewise, in our private life, small changes upheld consistently over a while leads to surprisingly drastic results. Consuming 120 fewer calories each day for a year would result in losing 10 – 12 pounds. Another great example would be taking out 30 minutes each day to read, which over a year can lead to drastic self-improvement.

Remarkably, changes in one area of your life can compound with other areas, what Darren Hardy calls “the Ripple Effect.” For instance, consuming a little more healthy food each day may lead to feeling more energetic, which encourages a little more exercise, which improves personal relationships and mood. One small alteration can lead to a lot of other benefits, which together form an overall drastic personal change.

Also, The Compound Effect works in reverse as well – one small bad habit leads to a huge problem over some time. One single habit can ripple into other areas, leading to problems.

The notion of small changes compounding over some time can be weighed against the big and sudden changes. Extending on the exercise example, people usually announce a big goal and start with extreme practices like going to the gym daily which often is unsustainable, like missing a few sessions, getting discouraged, and stopping. In comparison, small changes build consistency and momentum forming new habits that can be maintained for years.

The principle is simple, however simple certainly doesn’t mean easy. The steps you will take will be insignificant but not the reward.

 “Small, Smart Choices+ Consistency + Time = RADICAL DIFFERENCE.”

Each chapter in this book provides an insight into the fundamental principles of the Compound Effect that will assist you to generate renewed habits and behaviors and propel toward success.

You Make Your Choices, and Your Choices Make You!

When you’re mindful of your choices, you will be able to make a sequence of small good decisions that lead to the habits and behaviors that support a successful and happy life.

“Our choices can be our best friend or our worst enemy. They can deliver us to our goals or send us orbiting into a galaxy far, far away.”

Outlined below are guidelines from the book when it comes to making good choices:

  • Gratitude – concentrating on things you are thankful for builds a Compound Effect of positivity.
  • 100% Responsibility – taking 100% responsibility for yourself enables you to get a grip on limitless power to control your destiny.
  • Grab advantage of Luck – a mix of preparation, attitude, opportunity, and action is the sort of luck that can be connected with success. 
  • Tracking – by tracking your behavior you can get control over your choices.

It’s never too late to practise the power of the Compound Effect, starting now is the key, irrespective of your age.

Habits and Goals

 “We are what we repeatedly do.”

Habits ultimately become who you are. The principle to success is building several good habits that you will follow on a daily basis.

You = Choice (decision) + Behaviour (Action) + Habit (repeated Action) + Compounded = Goals

This chapter provides strategies to recognize your habits through tracking, getting rid of bad habits, and crafting positive ones.

Finding Momentum

Momentum, Darren Hardy refers to this as the “Big Mo” in the book, is an influential force for success. Momentum does not arise effortlessly, but as soon as it kicks in, your capability to achieve success compounds rapidly.

This chapter discusses how you can build momentum for your life to take off. When your habits become routine, you get into a rhythm which makes your routine feel natural and easy, and the momentum gets a chance to work.

Understand What’s Influencing You

We are all accountable for the choices we make, but it’s essential to understand that those choices are influenced by powerful external factors. Three powerful influences that affect you as discussed by Darren Hardy are; input (what you feed your mind), associations (who we associate with) and environment (your surroundings). Actionable steps are discussed on how you can alter the three influences to your advantage.

Acceleration – Breaking Through to Greater Success

In order to attain success, there will be times when you will face hardships and you will need to find courage and stamina to push through. Darren Hardy discusses the notion of acceleration in detail and highlights it is about going above and beyond.

What I Like About This Book

The Compound Effect is a comprehensive guide to achieving success with practical content that is relatable to many people and applicable in all facets of our lives. Above all, I appreciate how this book does not overload you with ideas and leave you hanging on what to do next, the author concludes each chapter with a checklist of questions and activities that put the significant learnings into action straightaway. Together with this, there are also extra material references through the book that directs readers to unrestricted online resources. What also strikes as noteworthy, this book is the result of Darren Hardy’s personal experiences and exploration. He has applied the principles mentioned in this book to his life and the great success that his achieved is evident today.

Why You Should Read the Book

This is a life changing book for anybody that is interested in long term success. The small choices you make irrespective of it being good or bad, it compounds over a period of time and affects your life significantly.

“doing a little extra every day and you will end up with alot over years”.

The Compound Effect is a detailed self-help guide providing the tools to get you on track and take control of your life. Not only the steps mentioned are highly actionable, but this book is what pulls you out of the instant fulfillment circle that is taking over many people today.