Latest news with #ReasonstoStayAlive
India.com
04-07-2025
- Health
- India.com
Feeling Low: 10 Soul Soothing Mental Health Books For Tough Days
photoDetails english 2926659 When you're feeling low, the right book can offer comfort, guidance, and a sense of hope. This list of 10 soul-soothing mental health books is perfect for tough days, offering insight, healing, and emotional support. Whether you're battling anxiety, grief, or simply feeling overwhelmed, these 10 thoughtfully selected reads provide practical advice, uplifting stories, and powerful reminders that you're not alone. Ideal for moments of reflection, each book is a gentle companion on the path to emotional well-being. Updated:Jul 04, 2025, 05:02 PM IST The Comfort Book by Matt Haig 1 / 10 The Comfort Book by Matt Haig It is a collection of short, soothing reflections, lists, quotes, and stories designed to offer comfort during tough times. Easy to read in small bites, making it perfect for days when your focus feels scattered. Gentle reminders of hope, resilience, and self-compassion. Personal insights from the author's struggles with depression and anxiety. It is best for moments when you need reassurance and gentle encouragement without pressure. Reasons to Stay Alive by Matt Haig 2 / 10 Reasons to Stay Alive by Matt Haig It is a powerful memoir about Haig's experience with depression and anxiety. Honest, relatable, and ultimately uplifting. Practical coping strategies blended with personal reflections. Proof that recovery, even from the darkest moments, is possible. It is best for anyone looking for a heartfelt, non-clinical voice of hope and survival. The Art of Happiness by Dalai Lama & Howard Cutler 3 / 10 The Art of Happiness by Dalai Lama & Howard Cutler A combination of Tibetan Buddhist wisdom and Western psychology and it offers timeless teachings on how to cultivate inner peace and joy. Insights on managing anxiety, suffering, and everyday stress, and practical exercises for shifting your mindset toward happiness. This is best for those looking for a spiritual and philosophical approach to mental wellness. Maybe You Should Talk to Someone by Lori Gottlieb 4 / 10 Maybe You Should Talk to Someone by Lori Gottlieb A memoir by a therapist who becomes a therapy patient herself. Witty, heartwarming, and deeply human. It offers a behind-the-scenes look at therapy from both sides of the couch. Comfort in knowing that even professionals struggle and grow. It is best for anyone curious about therapy or seeking reassurance that growth is messy but worth it. Lost Connections: Uncovering the Real Causes of Depression – and the Unexpected Solutions by Johann 5 / 10 Lost Connections: Uncovering the Real Causes of Depression – and the Unexpected Solutions by Johann Hari Challenges common beliefs about depression and anxiety, and it focuses on the root causes, such as disconnection and loneliness. It offers practical, research-based suggestions for reconnecting with yourself, others, and meaningful activities. An empowering message that healing often comes from restoring lost connections. It is best for readers interested in deeper social and psychological insights beyond just medication. The Happiness Trap by Dr. Russ Harris 6 / 10 The Happiness Trap by Dr. Russ Harris It is a practical guide based on Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) and focuses on accepting emotions rather than avoiding them. This book offers tools for reducing anxiety, depression, and self-doubt by changing your relationship with difficult thoughts. Easy-to-follow exercises and strategies for daily practice. It is best for people who tend to overthink or struggle with emotional avoidance. How to Do the Work by Dr. Nicole LePera (The Holistic Psychologist) 7 / 10 How to Do the Work by Dr. Nicole LePera (The Holistic Psychologist) It combines psychology, neuroscience, and holistic healing practices and focuses on self-healing and breaking toxic patterns. It offers actionable advice for reprogramming your subconscious mind and healing childhood wounds. Exercises for journaling, boundary-setting, and self-reflection. This is best for readers ready to dive into deep inner work and long-term healing. Radical Acceptance by Dr. Tara Brach 8 / 10 Radical Acceptance by Dr. Tara Brach A compassionate guide to overcoming self-judgment and embracing yourself fully. Draws from Buddhist mindfulness teachings. It tells and suggests tools to recognize and release self-criticism, shame, and emotional pain. Guided meditations and personal stories for reflection. It is best for anyone struggling with low self-worth, perfectionism, or emotional overwhelm. Untamed by Glennon Doyle 9 / 10 Untamed by Glennon Doyle You can read it as it is a bold, personal manifesto on self-liberation and emotional truth. Honest, humorous, and raw storytelling about mental health, love, and identity. This offers encouragement to listen to your inner voice and break free from societal expectations. Themes of empowerment, self-acceptance, and authenticity. It is best for readers who love memoirs with a strong, empowering voice. You Are Here: Discovering the Magic of the Present Moment by Thich Nhat Hanh 10 / 10 You Are Here: Discovering the Magic of the Present Moment by Thich Nhat Hanh It is a peaceful, simple guide to mindfulness from a world-renowned Zen master. This focuses on using the present moment to ease suffering. It offers gentle mindfulness techniques to calm your mind and connect with yourself. Wisdom on handling negative emotions with kindness and awareness. It is best for anyone seeking a calming, spiritual guide for emotional balance.
Telegraph
15-03-2025
- Entertainment
- Telegraph
Matt Haig: ‘It's impossible to wee next to a Beatle'
Born in Sheffield in 1975, Matt Haig studied English and history at the University of Hull. Following a mental breakdown in Ibiza in his early 20s, he wrote Reasons to Stay Alive, which became an international bestseller. He's since published a further eight novels including The Midnight Library and The Radleys, which have been adapted for television and film. He has two children with his wife, Andrea Semple, and lives in Brighton. Best childhood memory? I remember a holiday to California in 1983, to visit my uncle, who had been a hippy back in the Sixties. He'd settled down with a Mexican woman called Donna, and I'll never forget a day learning Mexican cookery with her. For someone who grew up in Newark-on-Trent in Nottinghamshire, it felt incredibly exotic to be spending the day making tacos, enchiladas and spicy food outside in the July sun. It was the first time in my life I'd done any proper cooking. Best day of your life? One day in 2004 I'd been really struggling in all kinds of ways. I was still quite mentally ill after a breakdown, and I'd been agoraphobic for a while. I'd failed to get a normal office job, and I felt generally useless, but for years I'd been writing a silly first novel, The Last Family in England, told by a Labrador. I'd sent it off and had had at least 40 rejection letters, and had little faith in my agent at that time, but then it got accepted. It was at a point where I had very low self-esteem and was depressed and felt a burden to my partner, Andrea, so to get a response, and acceptance, from the publisher felt like the first time I'd achieved something of any real worth. It felt like a huge achievement and a massive relief, even though that publisher dropped me three books down the line, and I had to start all over again. Best thing about having been diagnosed with autism and ADHD? My diagnosis made sense of a lot of things. I was told at school in certain subjects I was special needs because I'd sit there with my mouth open, I'd be the classic daydreamer, and I was incredibly messy. Getting the diagnosis didn't change my identity, but it allowed me to be more compassionate about certain points in my past that I've been hard on myself about. If I'd known why I was different back then rather than just feeling different, that would have been helpful. Best celebrity encounter? I was someone's plus one to the Baftas and I remember having a wee next to Paul McCartney. I'm a nervous wee-er anyway and I always struggle if I'm right next to someone in a urinal, but when I realised it was Paul McCartney I ended up having to go into one of the cubicles to finish the wee off, because I couldn't go, because how can you urinate next to a Beatle? It's simply impossible. Best thing about your personality? I'm a good listener. I'm genuinely interested in people and I'm always trying to understand people. If you're a writer, you have to do that. I ask people lots of questions, I like to know their stories and I like to understand people. Best decision you ever made? Deciding not to kill myself in Ibiza when I was 24 years old. I was on a cliff a short distance away from the villa where we lived, and I fantasised about it and very nearly did take my own life. For a short while after that I wished I had, because I was in such a deep state of depression that I could see no future. I was genuinely convinced I wouldn't see 25 years of age, but the thing that brought me back from the brink at that moment on the cliff was thinking about my partner and my parents back in England, and just knowing that if I did do it, the pain would spread out. It was a decision that led to so many other things, including writing How to Stay Alive and the books that followed, but ultimately it made me just appreciate being alive and realise that the only guarantee in life is that nothing stays the same. Best advice you ever received? Jeanette Winterson was very generous to me when I contacted her back in 2001 or 2002, when I was very depressed. I asked her would it be OK if I gave her a 500-word sample of my writing to look at, to see where I was going wrong. She had a look at this extract from what would become my first novel and instantly spotted a pretentious line about someone talking about their epiphanic moment. And she said, 'Just write, 'moment of epiphany. Don't write epiphanic.'' And that has always stuck with me whenever I get a bit lofty or try to be highbrow or pretentious. The trick is, don't show off. Keep it simple. Worst childhood memory? My nan dying was very impactful for me, as she had lived with us. She was someone I could tell things that I couldn't tell anyone else, and she died quite a slow death from breast cancer when I was about 16, which was when I was going through issues with shoplifting. I spent three hours in a police cell after getting arrested for stealing wet-look hair gel and a Crunchie bar from Boots, and it wasn't the first time I'd done it. I got a big telling off, and it was the first time I realised things had consequences. I didn't do it again. Worst moment of your life? When you've had suicidal depression for a long time, it's hard to pin-point a single day, because every day felt like the worst day, but the Christmas of 1999 was probably the nadir. I was no longer suicidal, but my existence just felt like hell, and I remember walking to Morrisons to get some stuff for my mum for the Christmas dinner and there were lots of drunk people in town laughing, and that just felt so haunting to me. Even worse, though, was last year when my son Lucas got an extreme post-Covid flu – he didn't sleep for almost a month and went into a delusional state of paranoia for about a week. It just felt like we'd lost him. He was given melatonin to help him sleep and eventually recovered, but that sense of helplessness was worse than feeling suicidally depressed. Worst trolling experience? Someone in the United States claimed that she had written The Midnight Library and that I had plagiarised her. Eventually, the American publisher had to call the lawyers in, as she was continuing to lie about me, and it soon became clear that her claims were ridiculous, a letter was sent and she eventually backed off. Probably the worst thing ever said to me online, though, was after Reasons to Stay Alive was published, and someone wrote on Twitter that I'd failed at suicide and that I wasn't really depressed because I was depressed in the Mediterranean. For a while I became a lightning rod for anyone who had an issue with mental health treatment or advice, simply because I'd written my own account of having mental health issues. Worst celebrity encounter? I was on an ill-advised American book tour in 2007 when Andrea and I decided to get married in Las Vegas. After the tour, we had a honeymoon week in LA and ended up doing a little bit of work in the business centre of the Beverly Hills Hotel, when in walked [the rapper] 50 Cent, with a massive entourage. He didn't recognise me but had a huge smile on his face and asked us how we were doing, and then I said the most embarrassingly mundane thing imaginable to him. Excruciatingly, all I could come up with was, 'We just sent an email'. Not my finest moment. Worst personality trait? I'm very insecure and too bothered about external opinions. I've searched my own name way too many times, and I've had a hard time becoming myself. I used to get jealous of other young writers, but I genuinely want the best for people now and I spend more time trying to boost people up. Worst decision you ever made? On my 21st birthday in Ibiza, I made the mistake of trying cocaine in the toilets at a party. A local dealer gave me a line and it was a really bad drug for me, which totally played into my addictive tendencies. I only ever took it to enable myself to stay out drinking, but it did get to a point where I wanted it every night, which was extremely bad for my nervous system and my ego. As soon as I had my breakdown I gave it up, along with everything else. I just became petrified of anything that could potentially make me feel even worse. The silver lining, though, is that I've been clear with my kids, who are very sensitive, that if their brains are anything like my brain, it will not end well, so it's been positive that I've been able to give them that advice based on my lived experience.
