5 Valuable books about mental illness (Quick reads)

In this blog post, we will present to you a list of 5 valuable books about mental illness. If you are either dealing with mental illness yourself or you are worried about a loved one, these books will represent a great support in your journey. The books are about depression, anxiety, addictions and 50 important signs of mental disorders. 

Other than books, you can also enjoy the Mental illness happy hour.

5 Valuable books about mental illness

The brain is a complex thing, one that can sometimes work terribly wrong. It is important to be informed about mental illness, because, to be realistic, any of us could suffer from one or the other at some point. 

And if we are still lucky and this does not happen to us, we should still not remain blind to the suffering of others and try to understand them. Should we mention that it is very interesting to read something like that? We have prepared a list of 5 valuable books about mental illness.

Darkness Visible: A Memoir of Madness, by William Styron

Styron’s book covers a period of about half a year. The story begins in the summer of 1985, when Styron is in Paris to receive the Cino Del Duca World Award. A few months earlier, he had already noticed the first signs of depression, but he had ignored them, and then his mental state deteriorated rapidly. 

At the premiere ceremony, he can’t speak, but only makes a hoarse murmur. He then goes to a psychiatrist for treatment, which does not work at first. He brings up the idea of ​​suicide, which he implements, but I don’t want to tell you more from here.

Styron also debates a lot about the nature of depression, its different manifestations, analyzes from the perspective of literature and art, discusses his mother’s death and his mourning after it. 

Honestly, I was drawn to the cover and the title. Memories of madness… I found it interesting. After reading it, I congratulated myself on the purchase. And I recommend it further.

The Noonday Demon: An Atlas of Depression, by Andrew Solomon

I couldn’t find a better one. One of the best books I’ve ever read on any subject, but also the best book on depression that has ever fallen into my hands. It is a long book, it has many hundreds of pages, in which Andrew Solomon mixes in a very interesting way for the reader (at least for the reader in me) his own experience with depression, the experience of others, medical, scientific data, statistics, interviews. 

It is a book of scientific fiction, like a good documentary, both objectively and with emotional involvement.

I liked two things about it. One that normalizes the experience. Yes, depression and any other mental disorder still sounds like a witchcraft in 2019. It’s still a shame, it still seems like something that would never happen to us, because it has an aura of prohibition, taboo, mystery, guilt, defect. 

No, depression is a disease like any other disease. Just as you don’t feel guilty for discovering that you have an ulcer, you take your pills, do the tests and change your diet, just as you don’t have to feel guilty for being diagnosed with depression, bipolar disorder or anything else.

And two, that… although it normalizes the experience and eliminates them from the magic of witchcraft, he takes this disease very seriously. Because it is a disease and it is not cured with linden tea, walks in the park or positive thoughts. And that doesn’t mean that the person suffering from depression is weak or whining, but that you can’t cure your ulcer with good thoughts, just as you can’t have depression.

Andrew Solomon recounts in his book including his entire pharmacological path in his dance with depression, explains psycho – neurophysiologically how things happen (or what we know now that happens in the human brain), comes with scientific data and studies.

I highly recommend you read it…

How to control your anxiety before it controls you Dr. Albert Ellis

By following the rules of rational-emotional and behavioral therapy developed by Dr. Albert Ellis, you can control your anxiety before it takes over.

Healthy anxiety — which involves feelings of worry, caution, and alertness — can be a real blessing: it keeps dangers at bay, nurtures your conservation spirit, and makes you aware of the negative things you can change. 

Unhealthy anxiety inhibits you from enjoying your daily activities and relationships and causes you to perceive them as too risky. It makes you act inefficient, fills your mind with exhausting worries, and slows your creativity.

In this book you will find countless examples of cases that Dr. Ellis has successfully dealt with, including those related to performance anxiety, occupational insecurity, sexual dysfunction, and social phobias. More than 200 rational maxims are included that will reduce your unhealthy anxiety and increase your chances of success, satisfaction and happiness, at home and at work.

From occupational anxiety to anxiety about paying installments or even intimate performance, there seem to be a multitude of ways to deal with anxiety and not allow it to become paralyzing. It is one of the 3 books about anxiety, very interesting, a real help for those who go through these states.

Recovery: Freedom from Our Addictions, by actor Russell Brand

This is a book that totally captivates you, it confirms an oppressive truth: each of us can be at a certain point in life on the edge of the abyss, torn down by our own addictions.

From the moment you enter the forbidden road, it doesn’t matter that you are rich, poor, intelligent, that you have a brilliant career, that you have a beautiful family or that the people around you love you. In fact, nothing really matters anymore. Everything is starting to fall apart. There are many other people in the critical situation in which Russell Brand found himself.

There are many people who can no longer tell their story from the mud in which the actor confessed to us that he wrote his own in 2002, when he really gave up drug use, starting the life-saving healing program.

Addiction does not choose. It simply hits. And you, the one who fell into the net subjugated, lose everything. From that “I try once and for all” or “I’m not so weak as to become addicted to something in this life” then a whole chain of weaknesses unfolds.

Russell Brand’s book can change destinies. It can make the one at the end of the powers aware that it is never too late to start again. But it shows you that it is not enough to be part of a healing program. The important thing is to really want to get rid of addictions and fight. As the actor confessed, the road to salvation takes you down to the middle of hell.

Only after you have gone through it can you consider yourself a new man who has regained his right to enjoy family, friends and his own life.

50 signs of mental disorders, by James Whitney Hicks

Anger, fatigue, obsessions, memory loss, sexual performance disorders, suicidal thoughts. Are these signs of a mental disorder? How could you be sure? Should you see a doctor? This book is for all those who want to understand their own symptoms or manifestations of loved ones.

50 signs of mental disorders talk about: anxiety, eating disorders, compulsions, deception, delusions, denial, depression, euphoria, mourning, hallucinations, confusion of identity, jealousy, mania, memory loss, mood swings, speech nonsense, obsessions, panic, paranoia, self-harm, sexual preoccupations, sleep disturbances and suicidal thoughts.

50 Signs of Mental Illness was voted the best non-fiction book of the year in 2005 by the National Alliance of Mental Illness, and in 2006 received the Ken Award from the Library of Mental Illness. research at Kenneth Johnson Memorial Hospital of the National Alliance of Mental Illness.

Dr. James Whitney Hicks is an associate director of the Department of Clinical Services at the New York City Center for Forensic Psychiatry.

He is also an assistant professor of psychiatry at New York University.

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