Here are 100 books that I'm Not Supposed to Be Here fans have personally recommended if you like
I'm Not Supposed to Be Here.
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As a psychiatrist, I've had a special interest over the past forty years in working with patients with symptoms of BPD, preceding even the formalization of the diagnosis. I've been intrigued by these patients who often display enormous intelligence, creativity, and energy, yet are handicapped by emotions and behaviors that are out of their control. I established one of the early treatment centers specifically designed for their treatment. Where once these patients were stigmatized by professionals and others to be bothersome, untreatable, chronically suicidal, and to be avoided, I've witnessed great advancements in treatment approaches. We now appreciate that the vast majority of patients get better. It's been a privilege for me to participate in these advances.
This book is directed for families who are feeling guilty, angry, intimidated, or overwhelmed by a loved one with BPD. There is practical advice for family members and loved ones that can help them understand BPD. The book provides communication skills that help instill boundaries that can protect both the individual with BPD and those around him or her.
Stop Walking on Eggshells has already helped more than a million people with friends and family members suffering from borderline personality disorder (BPD) understand this difficult disorder, set boundaries, and help their loved ones to stop relying on dangerous behaviors. This fully revised and updated third edition includes the very latest BPD research, extensive new information on narcissistic personality disorder (NPD), comorbidity and the effectiveness of schema therapy, and includes coping and communication skills readers can use to stabilize their relationship with the BPD or NPD sufferer in their life.
Isn't it time you stopped walking on eggshells? Learn how…
In addition to my lived experience as someone who has struggled with mental health and addiction since adolescence, I'm passionate about social justice issues related to mental illness and substance use. In June 2021, I completed a post-graduate program in Mental Health & Addictions. Throughout my studies I was able to gain a deeper understanding of how my own struggles developed and what they have come to mean to me from both a personal and clinical perspective. Now, I endeavor to pursue future writing projects in various genres that illuminate mental health issues as a relevant and timely topic of interest. I also hope to work with disenfranchised populations while pursuing my creative writing.
The prose style in the memoir, Girl, Interrupted, is clean, concise, and unembellished. The spare writing leaves no room for self-pity, yet still tells a vivid story of mental unraveling and convalescence concurrently. Kaysen meets a cast of vulnerable characters during her nearly year-long commitment in a psychiatric hospital. They form unlikely friendships, and we get to know all of their various neuroses in a stifling environment that is at once a cage and a path to self-discovery and health.
I was reminded of my own two commitments to psychiatric hospitals, how strange and austere the world became in those weeks, how time became irrelevant with the breakfast, lunch and dinner announcements, medication time, nightly bed checks, and the ironic “fresh air breaks,” on the back steps of the ward where I and my own unlikely cast of characters smoked cigarettes and commiserated about our unique predicaments.
Futaro Uesugi is a second-year in high school, scraping to get by and pay off his family's debt. The only thing he can do is study, so when Futaro receives a part-time job offer to tutor the five daughters of a wealthy businessman, he can't pass it up. Little does he know, these five beautiful sisters are quintuplets, but the only thing they have in common is that they're all terrible at studying! At this rate, the sisters can't graduate, and Futaro must think of a plan that suits each of them - which feels hopeless when five-out-of-five of these…
I’ve always had stronger and more intense emotions than my peers. In childhood, I spent hours poring over medical textbooks to try to figure out exactly what was wrong with me. At 28, after years of navigating the mental health industry, I was diagnosed with borderline personality disorder. Now, as a writer, my lived experience informs my passion to educate others about the disorder and show the world that people who live with BPD aren’t all bad—in fact, there are many unique gifts people with the disorder possess. I hope this reading list helps others who are on similar journeys.
This book by Daniel J. Fox took my understanding of my own BPD symptoms to a deeper level. I loved how much this book allowed me to reflect on my attachment styles, triggers, and distortions. It helped me uncover my personal motivations to work toward positive change and recovery.
Introducing a breakthrough, integrative approach to managing your borderline personality disorder (BPD). If you've been diagnosed with BPD you may feel a number of emotions - including shock, shame, sadness, abandonment, emptiness, or even anger. Even worse, you may be tempted to research your diagnosis online, only to find doomsday scenarios and terrible prognoses everywhere you click. Take a deep breath. You can get through this - and this workbook will help guide you. Despite what you may have read or been told, BPD is not the worst thing that can happen to you. Like many mental health issues, it…
As a psychiatrist, I've had a special interest over the past forty years in working with patients with symptoms of BPD, preceding even the formalization of the diagnosis. I've been intrigued by these patients who often display enormous intelligence, creativity, and energy, yet are handicapped by emotions and behaviors that are out of their control. I established one of the early treatment centers specifically designed for their treatment. Where once these patients were stigmatized by professionals and others to be bothersome, untreatable, chronically suicidal, and to be avoided, I've witnessed great advancements in treatment approaches. We now appreciate that the vast majority of patients get better. It's been a privilege for me to participate in these advances.
This book, authored by a pioneer in the understanding of the BPD concept, is directed to professionals. However, for the lay reader, many concepts will be enlightening. The book emerged from a realization that most mental health professionals were unfamiliar with highly specialized treatment programs but could provide “good enough” treatment. The book demystifies the disorder and offers pragmatic approaches to treatment, with emphasis on the need for partnership between therapist and patient.
The diagnosis and treatment of patients with BPD can be fraught with anxiety, uncertainty, and complexity. How welcome, then, is the Handbook of Good Psychiatric Management for Borderline Personality Disorder, which teaches clinicians what to do and how to do it, as well as what not to do and how to avoid it. The author, a renowned researcher and clinician, has developed a new evidence-based treatment, Good Psychiatric Management (GPM) that comfortably utilizes cognitive, behavioral, and psychodynamic interventions that are practical and simple to implement. Because psychoeducation is an important component of GPM, the book teaches clinicians how to educate…
I’ve always had stronger and more intense emotions than my peers. In childhood, I spent hours poring over medical textbooks to try to figure out exactly what was wrong with me. At 28, after years of navigating the mental health industry, I was diagnosed with borderline personality disorder. Now, as a writer, my lived experience informs my passion to educate others about the disorder and show the world that people who live with BPD aren’t all bad—in fact, there are many unique gifts people with the disorder possess. I hope this reading list helps others who are on similar journeys.
Borderline personality disorder is often called one of the most misunderstood mental illnesses. Robert Friedel’s book goes a long way in helping people better understand the disorder. I was fascinated by the murky history of the BPD label and the myths surrounding the disorder that Friedel deftly refutes.
BPD is a chronic, disabling psychiatric condition that causes extreme instability in one's emotional life, behavior, and self-image, and severely impacts the relationships with one's family and friends. With an estimated 5.6% of the US population affected and an expanding awareness of the disorder, Dr. Robert O. Friedel offers a fully revised and updated edition of BORDERLINE PERSONALITY DISORDER DEMYSTIFIED. A leading expert in BPD and a pioneer in its treatment, Friedel has turned his vast experience into a useful, supportive guide. The book helps readers to understand the underlying causes of BPD, the course it takes, challenges of reaching…
I’ve always had stronger and more intense emotions than my peers. In childhood, I spent hours poring over medical textbooks to try to figure out exactly what was wrong with me. At 28, after years of navigating the mental health industry, I was diagnosed with borderline personality disorder. Now, as a writer, my lived experience informs my passion to educate others about the disorder and show the world that people who live with BPD aren’t all bad—in fact, there are many unique gifts people with the disorder possess. I hope this reading list helps others who are on similar journeys.
They say hope is the backbone to recovery, and this book by John G. Gunderson and Perry D. Hoffman has hope in spades. The real-life stories of people living with BPD were so relatable, but, more importantly, they gave me hope that I could recover from a disorder that’s long been framed as “untreatable.”
BPD affects a significant percentage of the population. It is a disorder of relationships, one whose symptoms occur most in interpersonal contexts-and thus impact any number of interpersonal connections in life. When people have BPD, they may struggle to manage their emotions on a daily basis, and have to deal with fears of abandonment, anger issues, self-injury, and even suicidality-all of which can lead to even more instability in relationships.
This powerful compilation of stories reveals the deeply personal, firsthand perspectives of people who suffer with BPD, explores the numerous ways in which this disorder has affected their lives, and…
I’ve always had stronger and more intense emotions than my peers. In childhood, I spent hours poring over medical textbooks to try to figure out exactly what was wrong with me. At 28, after years of navigating the mental health industry, I was diagnosed with borderline personality disorder. Now, as a writer, my lived experience informs my passion to educate others about the disorder and show the world that people who live with BPD aren’t all bad—in fact, there are many unique gifts people with the disorder possess. I hope this reading list helps others who are on similar journeys.
One of the scariest symptoms of BPD is living with self-harm. I loved this book because it tackled non-suicidal self-injury in a nonjudgmental manner, which allowed me to reflect on and better understand the role non-suicidal self-injury plays in my life. This book helped me replace self-harming behavior with healthy coping strategies.
Self-injury can be as addictive as any drug, and the secrecy and shame many sufferers feel about this behavior can keep them feeling trapped. But if you're ready to replace self-harm with a set of healthy coping skills, this compassionate and practical book can help. This complete guide to stopping self-injury gives you the facts about self-harm, corrects common myths about this behavior, and provides self-soothing techniques you can begin using right away for regulating difficult or overwhelming emotions.
Freedom from Self-Harm also includes self-assessment worksheets, guidance for seeking professional help, and information about the most effective therapies and medications.…
I’ve always had stronger and more intense emotions than my peers. In childhood, I spent hours poring over medical textbooks to try to figure out exactly what was wrong with me. At 28, after years of navigating the mental health industry, I was diagnosed with borderline personality disorder. Now, as a writer, my lived experience informs my passion to educate others about the disorder and show the world that people who live with BPD aren’t all bad—in fact, there are many unique gifts people with the disorder possess. I hope this reading list helps others who are on similar journeys.
I love Marsha Linehan’s book because it was the first book that taught me skills to reduce the negative impacts of borderline personality disorder. It was a perfect distillation of Linehan’s treatment methods into accessible handouts and worksheets that helped me better engage with dialectical behavior therapy. I still return to my well-worn copy regularly.
Featuring more than 225 user-friendly handouts and worksheets, this is an essential resource for clients learning dialectical behavior therapy (DBT) skills, and those who treat them. All of the handouts and worksheets discussed in Marsha M. Linehan's DBT Skills Training Manual, Second Edition, are provided, together with brief introductions to each module written expressly for clients. Originally developed to treat borderline personality disorder, DBT has been demonstrated effective in treatment of a wide range of psychological and emotional problems. No single skills training program will include all of the handouts and worksheets in this book; clients get quick, easy access…
As a Certified Divorce Coach and Certified Divorce Financial Analyst®, I work with clients during one of the most difficult stages of their lives. Clients often feel regretful about the past and fearful for the future, and the right book recommendation can really help them move forward. I often give clients reading assignments between coaching sessions that help them process their grief, figure out their goals, educate themselves about finances, feel less alone in the divorce process, and become more confident in making major decisions. I’m never not reading on this subject.
Divorcing someone with a personality disorder can be one of the most stressful things one can face. Bill Eddy is a family lawyer and therapist who understands the complexities of divorcing a high conflict person and has mastered ways to communicate and co-parent with them. This book is a must-read for anyone facing high conflict divorce as it is filled with practical tips and suggestions.
Divorce is difficult under the best of circumstances. Dealing with this inherently adversarial process can be highly emotional on both sides. But when a divorcing individual is a "persuasive blamer"-someone who suffers from borderline personality disorder (BPD), narcissistic personality disorder (NPD), or simply has a high-conflict, manipulative personality-their behavior can have devastating ramifications for their former spouses. People with these disorders may adopt physical and verbal abuse as strategies, lie to lawyers and judges, manipulate the court, and may even level charges of abuse in order to get their way. Because persuasive blamers are so convincing and even charming, these…
At heart, I’m still just a girl. I don’t think I’ll ever grow out of wanting to experience the excitement of first kisses, first loves, and of coming out, when everything was new and exciting, and the world was full of promise. That’s why we return to YA even as adults. To feel the butterflies of a first crush, the fluttering of first love, and the agony of first loss. Those transformative books, the ones that change the trajectory of our lives, are usually young adult novels. I wrote The Space Betweento give readers a story to fall in love with and take with them the rest of their lives.
This book will make you question everything you’ve ever thought about your sanity.
The incredible true story of Susannah Cahalan took the world by storm when it topped the charts to #1 New York Times Bestseller and was made into a film. Cahalan’s intense journey from New York Post investigative reporter to psychiatric lockdown patient spans only one month, a month that nearly ended her life.
A reader once described my books as ‘unputdownable,’ and I’m happy to share that label with Brain on Fire. Riveting, frightening, and incredibly moving, I couldn’t read quickly enough as Susannah fought to reclaim her sanity and her life.
Based on her article “The Month of Madness,” this book is one of the best about a young woman’s struggle to find and reclaim herself.
Brain on Fire is the stunning debut from journalist and author Susannah Cahalan, recounting the real-life horror story of how a sudden and mysterious illness put her on descent into a madness for which there seemed to be no cure
'My first serious blackout marked the line between sanity and insanity. Though I would have moments of lucidity over the coming days and weeks, I would never again be the same person ...'
Susannah Cahalan was a happy, clever, healthy twenty-four-year old. Then one day she woke up in hospital, with no memory of what had happened or how she…
