100 books like My Stroke of Insight

I found this book inspiring because it takes a different perspective on treating trauma, which is the basis of so many mental health problems. The author draws on his decades of experience treating people who are haunted by their stressful experiences. I love his clear explanation that when people are deeply traumatized by war, disaster, or abuse, their reality is distinctly different from those around them, and it’s like they live on another planet.

He uses stories and case studies to explain his view that the most powerful way to treat psychological trauma is not through the mind but through the body. I love his compassionate stories about how he has successfully helped children and adults heal, not through triggering talk therapy but by using play, yoga, and other physical therapies. His approach may be unconventional, but I admire his dedication and passion for healing deep trauma. 

The memoir of world-renowned psychologist Marsha Linehan, who happens to be someone I greatly admire for creating the treatment that I use: Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT).  This book relays Linehan’s struggles as a teen and adult with her own mental health condition, including self-harming behaviors and thoughts of suicide, and how her experience contributed to her creation of a therapy that has likely saved millions of lives.

Can I tell you how much I admire Dr. Rick Hanson?

This book is another one that I read early in my inner journey and one I still often refer to for its insight and wisdom on meditation, breathing, and how the brain works. While it is chock full of science, it is reader-friendly. I also took Rick’s Neurodharma training, some of the most useful training I have received as a "TV producer turned wellbeing teacher" and now author.

As you would expect from any esteemed academic, he thoughtfully laid out his book, offering good summaries of key points at the end of each chapter – along with exercises and meditations to try throughout the book. If you like the wellbeing science stuff, this is a worthwhile read. 

In this book, a medical doctor makes the connection between suppressed emotions, especially anger and rage, and disease in the body.

When we live inauthentic lives, our bodies manifest this self-abandonment through auto-immune issues (literally the body turning against itself). He notes that women especially have the tendency to abandon themselves to serve others which creates repressed resentments that come out as disease in the body. It helped explain my painful bout with shingles which became a turning point for me in committing to living for myself instead of others.

Imagine being a medical school student in the best of health and full of spirit and ambition, and suddenly being engulfed by a strange and mysterious illness that even the best of doctors in the most renowned hospitals are unable to appropriately diagnose, let alone treat. This chilling story of a doctor who literally chases his own cure is a great example of the much-needed patient advocacy that may often be required to diagnose and treat rare and complex conditions effectively. The author’s passion for finding the underlying cause of his disease (Castleman’s disease) and experimenting with innovative unlikely combinations of drug therapies makes his story memorable and truly inspiring.

Written by a neurosurgeon who had absolutely no faith or belief in an afterlife, he made an about face after a life-threatening coma and a near-death experience.

This book is his own personal story and truly, it is both inspiring and life changing for the reader. His views on the purpose of life after this experience is so uplifting! 

Breast cancer has become ubiquitously one of the most common and dreaded cancers among women. Through this book, the author authentically and innovatively advocates for patients like her, who are diagnosed with breast cancer. She describes her journey in detail in an attempt to guide and advise others on how to deal with and manage life in the face of such a deadly diagnosis. While patients may be overwhelmed by the medical management aspects of the disease, the author reminds us to keep the human and psychological aspects in mind as a patient is after all a human being with emotions at the core.

This book is near and dear to me because of the topic it is based on. Anorectal malformation is a rare congenital defect that affects one in 5000 babies born. The book does a great job of bringing to light the real-life stories and experiences of patients and their families as they learn to navigate the healthcare system while aiming for the best outcome for their babies. The book gives a platform for raising awareness of birth defects such as anorectal malformations and tries to overcome the stigma associated with them. The book is a great compilation of stories of patients with anorectal malformations and serves as a great resource for other patients faced with a similar diagnosis.

I recommend this book to all people as a basic self-care exercise.

As a psychologist, I always support and empower clients to understand their own mind, body, and spirit as one of the important pathways toward overcoming psychological issues. The author, a leading neurologist, focuses on brain plasticity: the almost miraculous ability of our brains to adapt and change even after significant injury, by citing case studies with explanations that even lay readers can understand.

Our mind and body are interconnected, so learning more about the role of our brain is a good place to start. This book will open your horizons to how powerful and flexible your brain is and how much we can do as a gatekeeper to maintain a healthy being.

The book is easy to read as well as packed with knowledge that can change your way of living. 

Did you know that it's ok to laugh when you are grieving? Did you know it's ok to cry when you are grieving? I didn't. I thought I had to be strong. I thought I had to behave properly and seriously or else people would assume I didn't really love the people I had lost. Guess what? That's complete nonsense.  With grief, your emotions are all over the place, often at the same time, and that's ok. It's Okay to Laugh: (Crying Is Cool Too) is an amazing book that really helps you recognize that your emotions are not mutually exclusive. In sharing (and laughing) about her own experiences, the author really helped me give myself permission to feel my feelings. To feel happy and sad, sometimes at the same time, and to know that whatever I feel in my grief, it's ok. This book often left me laughing out… show more.