10 Books about Anxiety & Worry
10 Books about Anxiety & Worry
Don't feed the monkey mind!
Anxiety is a normal feeling, but it can also be debilitating. Since it’s Mental Health Awareness Month, I will be dedicating the whole month of May to nonfiction on Mental Health topics. Here are ten books that will help you understand how anxiety affects people, and how to cope with it.
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Unwinding Anxiety: New Science Shows How to Break the Cycles of Worry and Fear to Heal Your Mind by Judson Brewer (2021) Avery Publishing | We are living through one of the most anxious periods any of us can remember. Whether facing issues as public as a pandemic or as personal as having kids at home and fighting the urge to reach for the wine bottle every night, we are feeling overwhelmed and out of control. But in this timely book, Judson Brewer explains how to uproot anxiety at its source using brain-based techniques and small hacks accessible to anyone.
Tired as F*ck: Burnout at the Hands of Diet, Self-Help, and Hustle Culture by Caroline Dooner (2022) Harper Wave | Blending memoir and blistering social observations, the author looks back at her desperate attempts to heal her hunger, anxiety, and imperfections through extreme diets, culty self-help methods, and melodramatic bargains with the universe.
The Anatomy of Anxiety: Understanding and Overcoming the Body's Fear Response by Ellen Vora (2022) Harper Wave | In The Anatomy of Anxiety, holistic psychiatrist Dr. Ellen Vora offers nothing less than a paradigm shift in our understanding of anxiety and mental health, suggesting that anxiety is not simply a brain disorder but a whole-body condition.
How to Build a Healthy Brain: Reduce Stress, Anxiety and Depression and Future-Proof Your Brain by Kimberley Wilson (2022) Yellow Kite | Whatever your age, having a healthy brain is the key to a happy and fulfilled life. Yet, for both young and old, diseases of the brain and mental health are the biggest killers in the 21st century. We all know how to take care of our physical health, but we often feel powerless as to what we can do to protect our mental well-being too.
Why Am I So Anxious?: Powerful Tools for Recognizing Anxiety and Restoring Your Peace by Tracey Marks (2022) Alpha Books | In Why Am I So Anxious?, Dr. Marks will help you understand many of the most common causes of anxiety, help you identify what type of anxiety you may be experiencing, and give you helpful insight on how you can self-manage your anxiety before deciding if additional treatment options are the best choice. You don't need to let anxiety control your life!
The Catastrophic Worrier: Why You Worry and How to Stop by Graham Davey (1/2/23) New Harbinger Publications | In this guide, leading worry expert Graham Davey explains the science of why we worry, and offers a clear path to stopping catastrophic worry so you can regain control and live a happier life. Focusing first on the psychological processes that contribute to catastrophizing, you'll gain a solid, research-based understanding of where your worry comes from, with insight into how it can snowball.
The Anxious Achiever: Turn Your Biggest Fears Into Your Leadership Superpower by Morra Aarons-Mele (4/11/23) Harvard Business Review Press | The Anxious Achiever is a book with a mission: to normalize anxiety and leadership. As leadership expert and self-proclaimed anxious achiever Morra Aarons-Mele argues, anxiety is built into the very nature of leadership. It can--and should--be harnessed into a force for good.
Controlling Mental Chaos: Harnessing the Power of the Creative Mind by Jaime A. Pineda (7/15/23) Rowman & Littlefield | In this book, Jaime Pineda shows how the dynamics of anxiety and incessant rumination reflect uncontrolled creativity, and how using simple, time-tested techniques we can learn to control the chaos and recover our creative nature. The key to the solution is to understand that the intellect only helps to some extent, but by itself cannot solve its own problem.
Stay Sane in an Insane World: How to Control the Controllables and Thrive by Greg Harden (8/15/23) Blackstone Publishing | Greg Harden changes lives. This is why hundreds of world-class athletes, doctors, lawyers, teachers, business leaders, college students, and professionals from all walks of life have come to him for advice and direction--including 7-time Super Bowl Champion Tom Brady, 23-time Olympic Gold Medalist Michael Phelps, Heisman Trophy winners Desmond Howard and Charles Woodson, CEOs of major companies, and championship coaching staffs from all over the world.
Afraid: Understanding the Purpose of Fear and Harnessing the Power of Anxiety by Arash Javanbakht MD (9/15/23) Rowman & Littlefield | In this book, a psychiatrist and neuroscientist answers these questions. It is a comprehensive review of fear and anxiety in most tangible aspects of the modern life. Arash Javanbakht explores how our childhood experiences define the role fear plays in us as adults, how fear may or may not affect our genes, what excessive fear and anxiety can do to our brains and bodies, and the role of fear in the wake of trauma.
How do you prioritize your mental health? What are some self-care routines you follow? Share with us in the comments below! Let's support each other in our mental health journeys.
Did you find any good books to add to your TBR? This is just a small sampling of the nonfiction titles I’ve curated on this topic. Make sure to check out the complete list HERE.
Let's Read Nonfiction is a weekly newsletter that showcases the newest nonfiction titles, with a new topic or theme each week. Some past topics have been:
Creativity | Humor | WWII Heroes | Relationships | Black History | Health & Wellness | Women’s History | Food Memoirs | Grief & Loss | Climate Change
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