World Mental Health Day Round-Up
World Mental Health Day is October 10th. We’re highlighting eight titles concerning mental health, mindfulness, and psychology. Discover more about the history and practice of psychotherapy, emotional regulation and health tips and tricks, and more from these acclaimed psychiatrists, psychotherapists, and philosophers.
A bestselling author and gifted healer’s guidance on how therapy can restore us in an increasingly stressful world.
“A wise and compassionate book.” –Washington Post
In Letters to a Young Therapist, psychologist Mary Pipher shares what she has learned in thirty years of clinical practice helping warring families, alienated adolescents, and harried professionals restore peace and beauty to their lives. Through an exhilarating mix of storytelling and sharp-eyed observation, Pipher reveals her refreshingly inventive approach to therapy-fiercely optimistic, free of dogma or psychobabble, and laced with generous warmth and practical common sense. Whether she’s recommending daily swims for a sluggish teenager, encouraging a timid husband to become bolder, or simply bearing witness to a bereaved parent’s sorrow, Pipher’s compassion and insight shine from every page. Now updated with a preface discussing how COVID and the digital sphere have divided us from our true selves, each other, and the natural world, Letters to a Young Therapist is a powerfully engaging guide to living a healthy life.
Blending Buddhism and psychotherapy, acclaimed psychiatrist Mark Epstein shows how to radically transform your emotional life.
“One of the most sophisticated integrations of the therapeutic and spiritual disciplines.” —New York Times
Today, the benefits of meditation practices like mindfulness and deep breathing are widely recognized by mainstream therapists. But what does Buddhist insight actually look like, how does it intersect with classic Western psychotherapy, and what can a synthesis of both traditions offer you?
In this landmark book, acclaimed psychotherapist Mark Epstein lays out the path to meditation-inspired healing. At the heart of Epstein’s exploration is the concept of the “self,” which Buddhism exposes as an illusory construct that breeds emotional suffering. With great clarity and insight, Epstein demonstrates how Buddhism and psychotherapy can be used in powerful tandem to loosen our attachment to the self and thereby free ourselves to experience real joy.
Now updated with a new preface, Thoughts without a Thinker offers a revolutionary and enduring road map to a healthy emotional life.
“Absolutely crucial in reformulating the psychoanalytic project to meet the intellectual and emotional demands upon it a century after its birth.” —The Guardian
Sigmund Freud’s concepts have become a part of our psychological vocabulary: unconscious thoughts and feelings, the meaning of dreams, the sensuality of childhood. But psychoanalytic thinking has undergone an enormous expansion and transformation since Freud’s death in 1939. Clinicians and theorists have challenged the major pillars of Freud’s foundational theory, adopting a more collaborative version of psychoanalysis. With Freud and Beyond, Stephen A. Mitchell and Margaret J. Black embrace these changes and narrate the unfolding story of twentieth century psychoanalysis—from Harry Stack Sullivan to Jacques Lacan; D.W. Winnicott to Melanie Klein—introducing the full scope of contemporary psychoanalytic thought to general readers for the first time. A classic in its field, Freud and Beyond also covers twenty first century advances in psychoanalysis, from challenges to traditional Freudian analysis to dynamic new approaches to Freud’s key concepts.
Richly illustrated with case examples, this lively, jargon-free primer makes modern psychoanalytic thought accessible to all.
For most of us, the major questions of life continue to perplex: Who am I? Why am I here? How should I live? In the late nineteenth century, a class of thinkers emerged who made solving these problems central to their work. They understood that human questions demand human answers and that without understanding what it means to be human, there are no answers.
Through the biographies and theories of luminaries ranging from Sigmund Freud to Erich Fromm, Frank Tallis show us how to think about companionship and parenting, identity and aging, and much more. Accessible yet erudite, The Act of Living is essential reading for anyone seeking answers to life’s biggest questions.
Luckily, anyone suffering from these afflictions has reason to hope. Stunning breakthroughs in neuroscience show that our brains are more malleable than we ever imagined. In Rainy Brain, Sunny Brain, Fox describes a range of techniques — from traditional cognitive behavioral therapy to innovative cognitive-retraining exercises — that can actually alter our brains’ circuitry, strengthening specific thought processes by exercising the neural systems that control them. The implications are enormous: lifelong pessimists can train themselves to think positively and find happiness, while pleasure-seekers inclined toward risky or destructive behavior can take control of their lives.
Drawing on her own cutting-edge research, Fox shows how we can retrain our brains to brighten our lives and learn to flourish. With keen insights into how genes, life experiences and cognitive processes interleave together to make us who we are, Rainy Brain, SunnyBrain revolutionizes our basic concept of individuality. We learn that we can influence our own personalities, and that our lives are only as “sunny” or as “rainy” as we allow them to be.
What makes life meaningful? How do we confront our inevitable end? An eminent psychiatrist draws on decades of clinical experience to show how he and his patients have grappled with the most profound existential questions.
“A remedy more powerful than any fad or pill could promise.” ―Washington Post
In this stunning collection of stories, renowned psychiatrist Irvin D. Yalom describes his patients’ struggles—as well as his own—to come to terms with the two great challenges of existence: how to have a meaningful life yet reckon with its inevitable end. We meet a nurse who must stifle the pain of losing her son in order to comfort her patients’ pains, a newly minted psychologist whose studies damage her treasured memories of a lost friend, and a man whose rejection of psychological inquiry forces even Yalom himself into a crisis of confidence.
Creatures of a Day is a radically honest statement about the difficulties of human life, but also a celebration of some of the finest fruits—love, family, friendship—it can offer. Marcus Aurelius has written that “we are all creatures of a day.” With Yalom as our guide, we will find the means to make our own day not only bearable, but also meaningful and joyful.
A NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER
From renowned psychiatrist Irvin D. Yalom, intimate and enriching stories of patients struggling with anxiety, isolation, and the meaning of life.
“Dr. Yalom demonstrates once again that in the right hands, the stuff of therapy has the interest of the richest and most inventive fiction.” ―New York Times
In this bestselling classic, master psychotherapist Dr. Irvin D. Yalom uncovers the mysteries, frustrations, pathos, and humor at the heart of the therapeutic encounter. As he recounts the real-life dilemmas of his patients, Yalom provides a rare and enthralling glimpse into their personal desires, motivations, and fears. In doing so, he also tells his own story, as he struggles to reconcile his all-too-human responses with his sensibility as a psychiatrist.
Told with stunning insight and deep empathy, Love’s Executioner reveals the deepest truths of the shared human condition.
What are the most common dreams and why do we have them? What does a dream about death mean? What do dreams of swimming, failing, or flying symbolize?
First published in 1899, Sigmund Freud’s groundbreaking book The Interpretation of Dreams explores why we dream and why dreams matter in our psychological lives. Delving into theories of manifest and latent dream content; the special language of dreams; dreams as wish fulfillments; the significance of childhood experiences; and much more, Freud offers an incisive and enduringly relevant examination of dream psychology. Encompassing dozens of case histories and detailed analyses of actual dreams, this landmark work grants us unique insight into our sleeping experiences.
Renowned for translating Freud’s German writings into English, James Strachey―with the assistance of Freud’s daughter Anna―first published this edition in 1953. Incorporating all textual alterations made by Freud over a period of thirty years, it remains the most complete translation of the work in print.
