Before you begin

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• Ask which resource best fits your age, diagnosis, goals, and current level of distress.

• Books may contain viewpoints, examples, or terminology that are dated or that differ from current clinical practice. Inclusion means the book may offer something useful—not that every claim is endorsed.

• Workbooks involving exposure, trauma, eating disorders, severe mood symptoms, psychosis, or suicide-related concerns may increase distress when attempted without support. Use them with an appropriate clinician when indicated.

• Nutrition, weight, yoga, and meditation resources do not replace medical assessment, a registered dietitian, physical limitations guidance, or urgent psychiatric care.

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Substance use and choosing treatment

For families comparing residential addiction programs and trying to understand what effective care can look like.

• Inside Rehab: The Surprising Truth About Addiction Treatment—and How to Get Help That Works

Adult ADHD

Practical education and strategies for organization, executive functioning, attention, and mindfulness.

• ADD-Friendly Ways to Organize Your Life

• The Disorganized Mind: Coaching Your ADHD Brain to Take Control of Your Time, Tasks, and Talents

• Taking Charge of Adult ADHD

• More Attention, Less Deficit: Success Strategies for Adults with ADHD

• The Mindfulness Prescription for Adult ADHD: An 8-Step Program for Strengthening Attention, Managing Emotions, and Achieving Your Goals

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Anxiety and panic

Resources on chronic worry, panic attacks, and cognitive-behavioral approaches.

• The Anxiety and Worry Workbook: The Cognitive Behavioral Solution

• The Anxiety and Phobia Workbook

• How to Stop Worrying and Start Living

• How to Control Your Anxiety Before It Controls You

• The Gifts of Imperfection

• When Panic Attacks: The New, Drug-Free Anxiety Therapy That Can Change Your Life

 

 

Bipolar disorder

Education for patients and families, including bipolar II disorder and lived experience.

• The Bipolar Disorder Survival Guide: What You and Your Family Need to Know

• Bipolar Disorder: A Guide for Patients and Families

• Why Am I Still Depressed? Recognizing and Managing the Ups and Downs of Bipolar II and Soft Bipolar Disorder

• An Unquiet Mind: A Memoir of Moods and Madness

 

 

Body dysmorphic disorder

A patient- and family-oriented introduction to body dysmorphic disorder.

• Understanding Body Dysmorphic Disorder

 

 

Dementia caregiving

Support for relatives and caregivers of someone with Alzheimer disease or another dementia.

• The 36-Hour Day: A Family Guide to Caring for People Who Have Alzheimer Disease and Other Dementias

• Help Is Here: When Someone You Love Has Dementia

 

 

Depression

A classic cognitive-behavioral self-help resource for depressive symptoms.

• Feeling Good: The New Mood Therapy

 

 

Eating disorders

Medical consequences, subthreshold symptoms, and recognizing when a relationship with food needs attention.

• Sick Enough: A Guide to the Medical Complications of Eating Disorders

• Almost Anorexic: Is My (or My Loved One’s) Relationship with Food a Problem?

 

 

Fear of death and mortality

Psychological and contemplative approaches to mortality anxiety.

• Staring at the Sun: Overcoming the Terror of Death

• No Death, No Fear: Comforting Wisdom for Life

• A Commonsense Book of Death: Reflections at Ninety of a Lifelong Thanatologist

 

 

Grief

Resources for sudden loss and structured grief work.

• I Wasn’t Ready to Say Goodbye: Surviving, Coping and Healing After the Sudden Death of a Loved One

• The Grief Recovery Handbook: The Action Program for Moving Beyond Death, Divorce, and Other Losses

 

 

Meditation and mindfulness

Accessible mindfulness instruction for the general public and adults with attention difficulties.

• Meditation for Fidgety Skeptics: A 10% Happier How-to Book

• The Mindfulness Prescription for Adult ADHD

 

 

OCD, perfectionism, and hoarding

Adult, child, and teen resources. Choose the book that matches the specific concern and use exposure-based exercises with appropriate guidance.

• Treating Your OCD with Exposure and Response (Ritual) Prevention Therapy: Workbook

• Getting Over OCD: A 10-Step Workbook for Taking Back Your Life

• Coping with OCD: Practical Strategies for Living Well with Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder

• Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (Facts Series)

• Brain Lock: Free Yourself from Obsessive-Compulsive Behavior

• Overcoming Obsessive Compulsive Disorder: A Self-Help Guide Using Cognitive Behavioral Techniques

• When in Doubt, Make Belief: An OCD-Inspired Approach to Living with Uncertainty

• Talking Back to OCD: The Program That Helps Kids and Teens Say “No Way”—and Parents Say “Way to Go”

• Free from OCD: A Workbook for Teens with Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder

• When Perfect Isn’t Good Enough: Strategies for Coping with Perfectionism

• Buried in Treasures: Help for Compulsive Acquiring, Saving, and Hoarding

• Stuff: Compulsive Hoarding and the Meaning of Things

 

 

Schizophrenia and family support

Illness education and practical support for families and caregivers.

• Surviving Schizophrenia: A Family Manual

 

 

Social skills and social anxiety

Conversation skills, social confidence, and teen-focused CBT/ACT exercises.

• Improve Your Social Skills

• How to Make Conversation: An ImproveYourSocialSkills.com Guide

• The Shyness and Social Anxiety Workbook for Teens: CBT and ACT Skills to Help You Build Social Confidence

 

 

Habits and time management

Frameworks for changing habits, prioritizing time, and completing tasks.

• Better Than Before: What I Learned About Making and Breaking Habits

• Atomic Habits: An Easy & Proven Way to Build Good Habits & Break Bad Ones

• 15 Secrets Successful People Know About Time Management

• Timeboxing: The Power of Doing One Thing at a Time

 

 

Nutrition and healthy weight

General-public nutrition and behavior-oriented approaches. These are not individualized medical or nutritional advice.

• How Not to Die: Discover the Foods Scientifically Proven to Prevent and Reverse Disease

• The Beck Diet Solution: Train Your Brain to Think Like a Thin Person

• How Not to Diet: The Groundbreaking Science of Healthy, Permanent Weight Loss

• The Complete Beck Diet for Life: The Five-Stage Program for Permanent Weight Loss

 

 

Relationships

Communication and relationship-maintenance perspectives for couples.

• The Art of Marriage Maintenance

• The Seven Principles for Making Marriage Work

• Men Are from Mars, Women Are from Venus

 

 

Parenting

Communication with children and teens, parent–child relationships, and sibling conflict.

• Between Parent and Child

• How to Talk So Kids Will Listen & Listen So Kids Will Talk

• How to Talk So Teens Will Listen and Listen So Teens Will Talk

• Between Parent and Teenager

• Siblings Without Rivalry: How to Help Your Children Live Together So You Can Live Too

 

 

Yoga

Foundational references intended to supplement instruction from a qualified teacher.

• B.K.S. Iyengar Yoga: The Path to Holistic Health

• Light on Yoga: The Bible of Modern Yoga

 

 

Important clinical note

If a resource increases distress, worsens symptoms, or encourages you to change prescribed medication or treatment without guidance, stop and discuss it with your treating clinician. If there is an immediate safety concern, call 911 or go to the nearest emergency department; in the United States, call or text 988 for the Suicide & Crisis Lifeline.