Can we call it a silver lining, that the pandemic and other stressful events of the past year or two have driven a heightened awareness of mental health issues? Perhaps even an better understanding of them? Whether you are looking to better understand different mental health experience, you want practical tools, or just want to read some optimism – these are six books about mental health currently sitting on our reading wishlist.
I’m Telling the Truth, But I’m Lying, by Nyono Mmabassey Ikpi
Ikpi is an impressive a creative ‘slashie’. She is an author, slam poet and artist, who uses her work to explore all aspects of her identity – as a Nigerian-American immigrant woman who has been diagnosed with bipolar disorder and anxiety. I’m Telling the Truth is a highly intimate and raw collection of essays about how her youth and experience of immigration to the US were impacted by her diagnoses.
Ipki looks at how mental health affects every single part of our lives — how we appear to others and, perhaps more significantly, how we view ourselves. She questions our preconceptions about what it means to be ‘normal’ while exploring guilt, feeling lost, the ups and downs of medication, and family.
Set Boundaries, Find Peace: A Guide to Reclaiming Yourself, by Nedra Glower Tawwab
Tawaab is a relationship therapist and licensed counsellor who has long been a favourite in the media and on Instagram. Her book Set Boundaries is a best-seller for a reason – it walks the reader through Tawaab’s detailed approach to establishing and maintaining boundaries, as a means of safeguarding mental health. She’ll help you say no, handle toxic people in your life, and use boundaries as a tool to save relationships, no sever them.
Importantly, the book considers cultural factors and family pressures that can make it hard for those from culturally-diverse backgrounds to implement the boundary-setting strategies and behaviours. If you’re keen to start working on your boundaries, Tawaab has also released a workbook and has free worksheets on her website.
How We Show Up: Reclaiming Family, Friendship, and Community, by Mia Birdsong
COVID-19 has amplified the tensions between individualist society and the need for community that exists in Australia and many places around the world. Now that we have experience literal physical isolation, will we see a return to community-living post-pandemic?
Birdsong looks at the underlying drivers that create our individualist tendencies, and shows us how to instead create a sense of community wherever we are. She discusses how to create safe spaces, creativity in community and what it means to raise children and grow old with others outside traditional family units. Birdsong brings together advice and stories from social justice movements and marginalised communities, including BIPOC and LGBTIQA+ groups to lay out a blueprint that anyone can use.
The Stress Management Workbook: De-Stress in 10 Minutes or Less, by Ruth C. White
If you’re looking for something more practical, this workbook teaches you how to manage your stress without getting even more stressed out. White is a highly credential expert – she has a PhD in Social Welfare and a Masters in Public Health from from the University of California, Berkley – so you’ll be in good hands!
The book includes activities to help you pinpoint the sources of your stress in under 10 minutes, and then guides you through specific stress management exercises relevant to each. On top of these targeted exercises for immediate relief, The Stress Management Workbook includes longer term strategies to help you establish a healthier relationship you’ll face in the future. White’s exercises also factor in cultural and societal pressures, ensuring you’re seen and valid and that your emotions are completely valid no matter the situation.
How Far You Have Come: Musings on Beauty and Courage, by Morgan Harper Nichols
How Far You Have Come is a collection of bite-sized, illustrated poetry and essays from bestselling artist and writer Morgan Harper Nichols – it replicates the style of her lovely work on Instagram. This curation focuses on reclaiming moments of loss, pain or division, and the healing that comes from finding ways of turning those experiences into ones of growth, hope and unity. Nichols’ words acknowledge the past, give thanks and gratitude for the present moment, and look ahead with excited anticipation to the future.
This would make a sweet gift for a friend going through a tough time, and is a great source to come back to every now and then whenever you’re craving some lightness and perspective.
The Sun is Also a Star, by Nicola Yoon
A lighter read, this YA novel follows a time-bending romance between two people from different worlds – each facing their own set of pressures. Natasha, a lover of facts and science whose family is at risk of being deported back to Jamaica, and Daniel, the good student who craves a more creative, artistic life.
As is typical of the YA genre, Yoon’s novel is optimistic – a story that reminds us of our ability to give love and receive it in return – but also tackles bigger issues. Zee Feed readers will see themselves in either Natasha or Daniel (or both!); young people navigating burnout, the pressure of success, the mental toll that learning about identity and injustice can have.
