100 Books Like Anxiety Rx

This is the best book I’ve ever found for guiding clients with step-by-step instructions and practices for developing a somatic capacity for resilience in the face of stress. This is the book I would want to write if I were writing the perfect book to give to clients to support their healing. It’s like handing clients the keys to their own healing process. I love it so much I agreed to write the foreword!

And…it’s perfectly structured. I know that’s not the usual reason for loving a book, but as an educator I can say that the learning structure is so perfect that it makes the content accessible and understandable for clients who struggle with learning from written material. 

This is the book that transformed my understanding of the somatics of addiction and compulsion. For almost 30 years, this has been the book I’ve recommended to clients most frequently. It is astonishing in its simplicity and elegance. The process of befriending and listening to our bodies as a way to engage with patterns that have previously felt out of control has become the underlying architecture of my work and teaching.

This is the book that I come back to again and again for inspiration. It is also the book that clients tell me they come back to again and again. It places the client firmly at the center of their own healing journey, with tools that every one of us carries around with us every day.

This is my go-to book now for clients who are looking for more trauma-informed and inclusive versions of Twelve Step programs. I have never read another book on the Twelve Steps that so thoroughly and gracefully weaves so many different knowledge areas and traditions together in such a seamless whole and that so thoroughly models inclusion and cross-cultural curiosity.  

And, oh my, the number of fabulous practices that are given as examples is like a treasure-trove of gems for both practitioners and clients alike. I love the kindness and generosity that is present in this book’s expansive invitation to embodied healing in the recovery journey. 

Again and again, I had the experience of clients seeking out meditation and mindfulness practices to relieve their trauma symptoms–only to see those clients come undone by the very thing they thought would help. I struggled to find resources that would help them understand how they could access those powerful tools of transformation without having their symptoms exacerbated.

This book completely eliminated that struggle for me. The relief I felt when I first read this book was profound: I had found the safety net for my clients I had been longing for. It has everything in it that I would want a client with a trauma history to know before including mindfulness practices in their healing journey, including putting those practices into cultural contexts that further enhance their safety.  

I’ve read this book about a dozen times in the past fifteen years, and I find new nuggets of wisdom with each visit. I was first convinced that I could overcome anxiety by reading Dr. Low’s strong conviction that there are no hopeless cases. He breaks down the root causes of mental health issues and describes cognitive-behavioral techniques for overcoming anger, negative judgments against oneself, fears, interpersonal conflicts, and many other ailments. His pithy sayings are easy to remember and have become the backbone of the self-help program Recovery International. Written in the 1950s, the examples and language can be somewhat dated – such as streetcars, elevator operators, and clotheslines – but his great love for his patients and his understanding of the human mind are timeless. 

In my research on Alzheimer’s, I was amazed at how many ways there are to modify your risk of having Alzheimer’s or reduce the severity of the symptoms. It became clear that lifestyle changes were key to controlling our own health regarding keeping our brain healthy and our body in sync with it.

I wanted to take my knowledge of food beyond just the familiar recommendations of following a Mediterranean diet and eating less meat. I found this book did indeed bring an understanding of not just long-term effects but also how to eat for more immediate relief of depression, poor sleeping habits, lack of energy, and so forth. 

As I continued researching the role diet plays, I found this book by a respected Harvard-trained doctor who combines her nutrition research with her experience as a professional chef with her degree in Psychiatry. This combination allows her to inform and… show more.

I absolutely adore this book. This is a huge thing to say, but I'd probably rank it among my favorites of the last five years. Although the focus is heavily on anxiety and depression, it clearly sets out a fantastic strategy for keeping yourself well and energized. It’s beautifully written; each point is illustrated by a real and emotive story, bringing it to life. You feel your way through this book. I haven't recommended a book to so many people ever.

Johann Hari has a genuine connection to the topic, and it feels like he puts his heart and soul into every word. Rarely do I read something so educational and yet so gripping. It became my favorite conversation piece in any social situation, as it is so relevant to many of us struggling to help families and friends who are suffering from depression and anxiety. Simple, clear, and incredibly… show more.

I use this book with my teen groups and have seen them take control of their stress, drama, and anger. Power Your Mind takes the CBT tools and techniques that I love so much from Recovery International, and applies them to young people. The workbook features colorful comic pages and high school characters who apply the tools to situations relevant to modern teens. The conversational writing, journaling activities, and clear progression of the key concepts make the workbook perfect to do alone or in a group setting. 

Directed at middle school-age kids, this book offers practical advice to pre-teens on how to practice anxiety-taming strategies. It even includes a chapter on medication. Quotes from real kids also make the subject matter more relatable and let kids know that they’re not alone. The sections on what therapy is like and how you can advocate for yourself can be empowering for kids as well as teaching lifelong skills.

As we learn in another classic, Primed to Perform by Doshi and McGregor, play is the most motivating activity there is.

I read this book for the first time during a dark period early in my career – where I did not feel inspired, engagement nor fulfilled. This book provided me with the framework to find meaningful activities – those where I was both skilled yet challenged to improve. Those activities where I would lose myself – where time would stand still.

Better yet, this book, framework, and philosophy have better helped me coach others to find play, engagement, and meaning in their activities at work and in life.