INDIA: Mental health is highly affected in the ruckus of modern lifestyle. At such times books being best friend of its fellow reader can provide a positive manifestations on such crucial topic.
Being a bibliophile involves transcending the terrain of reading only fiction and delving into nonfiction as well, which gives you a more realistic picture of certain situations in life. Self-help books can help give a reader some clarity and purpose. Reading books on mental health is definitely not a substitute for seeking professional help and engaging in certain exercises.
That being said, certain books can actually impact the reader’s mind into pondering an optimistic view of life, like a best friend who you can rely on. If you are struggling with situations and crave an iota of sanity and a breeze of self-satisfaction, these are the books that you can look forward to reading.
Best books on mental health
Permission to Come Home by Jenny Wang
Founder of the Asian, Pacific Islander, and South Asian American (APISAA) Therapist Directory, Dr. Jenny Wang’s masterpiece has gained a lot of spotlight with the 2022 publication of “Permission to Come Home”.
Highlighting the plights of Asian Americans in a quintessentially racist environment trying to fit in, the book realises how it is absolutely imperative for the community to reclaim their spaces that are white privileged spaces and to simultaneously maintain the goodwill of their mental health.
This book specifies how these marginalised groups must act for themselves: be resilient and strong, content and free. This book also provides resources to aid readers in engaging in self-care and mental health.
The State of Black Girls by Marline Francois Madden
This nonfiction book, meant to inspire young black girls to personal fulfilment in light of obstacles like domestic violence, depression, failed relationships, anxiety, etc., provides sufficient tools to comprehend the situations in society and the means to tackle them.
This book is a guiding tool to assist young black women to rage through society and do more than survive. The author has given importance to activities and prompts that she deems fit to help these groups exercise optimistic thought processes and try to win and gain the most out of life.
We’ve Been Too Patient: Voices from Radical Mental Health by the Radical Mental Health Movement
This book comprises 25 brave stories and essays that are taken from the front lines of the radical mental health movement, curated by Kelechi Ubozoh and L.D. Green, that stress the realistic spectrum of people who are diagnosed with mental health diseases, their pains, and the journey of redemption.
The book highlights the stigmas associated with mental health in a society and the causal effects of suicidal thinking owing to reasons that include overmedication, police brutality, electroconvulsive therapy, and past traumas that are often labelled as “mentally ill”. With these individual stories, attention is given to those exposed to taboos and mistreatment in society, like the LGBTQIA+ and black communities.
Generation Dread: Finding Purpose in an Age of Climate Crisis by Britt Wray
The impact of climate change is grave and can lay its ugly paws on the mental well-being of an individual. Eco-anxiety is a condition where an individual’s emotions are replete with the causal effects of nature and the impending gloom that comes with it.
In order to study the surging impact of these climatic disturbances on a person’s mental health, Britt Wray had intuited the sensitivity of these topics and the means to navigate themes through the book.
Terming environmental anxiety as “super fuel” and seeking to unfurl one’s critical skills in the process, the book explored measures to build strength and gratitude through practising mindfulness. One way to do that, in accordance with the book, is to build important social connections and communities to engage in brisk critical discourse.
The Myth of Normal: Trauma, Illness, and Healing in a Toxic Culture by Dr. Gabor Mate
Talking about the trauma that one has faced in the past and revisiting it on certain occasions can be equally straining and depressing. The book has been an eye-opener for a lot of people because it defines trauma in a new light that incorporates how trauma is pervasive and can affect one’s physical well-being in an established toxic environment.
This book also categorises the different kinds of traumas, like sexual trauma and childhood trauma, that are more visible in society. Mate makes certain attempts at making significant changes through the book in practising authenticity, agency, anger, and acceptance, which he names the “four A’s,” which encapsulate the readers with a direct approach to getting the solutions.
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