For many clients, reading books can be a great addition to therapy. I have compiled a list of books and resources for topics that are commonly addressed in therapy. This list is based on my own reading and feedback from clients.
Postpartum Depression/Anxiety
Screaming on the Inside: The Unsustainability of American Motherhood
By Jessica Grose
"In this timely and necessary book, New York Times opinion writer Jessica Grose dismantles two hundred years of unrealistic parenting expectations and empowers today’s mothers to make choices that actually serve themselves, their children, and their communities."
Postpartum Happiness: What to Do When You Love the Kids but Hate the Job
By Marissa Zwetow, LMFT
“If you are struggling to enjoy motherhood after having your baby and feel horrible guilt and isolation, then this book will be one of the most important books you will ever read to give you the validation, relief, and resources you need to be a confident, happy mom.”
Good Moms Have Scary Thoughts: A Healing Guide to the Secret Fears of New Mothers
By Karen Kleiman, MSW
"Good Mothers Have Scary Thoughts is packed with guidance, simple exercises, and nearly 50 stigma-busting cartoons that help new moms validate their feelings, share their fears, and start feeling better."
How Not To Hate Your Husband After Kids
By Jancee Dunn
"Part memoir, part self-help book with actionable and achievable advice, How Not To Hate Your Husband After Kids is an eye-opening look at how the man who got you into this position in this first place is the ally you didn't know you had.”
Ambivalence about Having Children
Motherhood - Is It For Me?: Your Step-by-Step Guide to Clarity
By Denise Carlini & Ann Davidman
"Many women question whether they want a baby or a childfree life. Motherhood – Is It For Me? is the perfect resource for addressing this crucial life choice. Find out what family planning might really mean for you with this insightful book, which offers every woman a clear path to understanding her ambivalence, moving through it, and making an informed decision about becoming a mother or remaining childfree."
Fertility
By JT Lawrence
"Will there be light at the end of the birth canal? Does the word ‘endometriosis’ make you want to stick a fork in your eye? No? Then perhaps this book isn’t for you. It’s funny, and (sometimes alarmingly) frank. It contains an impressive array of synonyms for ‘vagina’ and it’s certainly NSFW. It’s about having a devil womb and a hot knife lodged in a shoulder. It’s about becoming blackly bitter and twisted in infertility, then slowly finding a way to untwist."
Semen Secrets: Truths and Confessions of a Wife’s Journey Through Male Infertility
By TJ Peyten
"The book details her struggle to navigate life, love, faith and marriage in the midst of her desperate desire to conceive. Semen Secrets addresses the topic of male infertility and gives a voice to all who are suffering with infertility in silence, struggling to cope with the harsh reality of their inability to have children."
Infreakinfertility: How to Survive When Getting Pregnant Gets Hard
By Melanie Dale
“This isn't a book about conquering infertility. This is a book about surviving it.” Each chapter covers a different challenge with infertility and is broken into sections, a little of my story and concerns, a blurb from my husband, Alex, kind of a window into his dudely brain, and practical tips on how to cope. Read it yourself, read it as a couple, and if you’re struggling to explain your feelings to friends and family, hurl a copy at them and run away."
Birth Trauma
How to Heal a Bad Birth: Making sense, making peace, and moving on
By Melissa Bruijn and Debbie Gould
"How to Heal a Bad Birth is a straightforward guide for women who have experienced a difficult, disappointing or traumatic birth, and want to gain understanding and clarity about ‘what happened’ and why they feel so bad…and move on.
Written by the founders of Birthtalk.org™, this book works double-time as an indispensable resource for partners, family and health professionals, enabling them to offer meaningful support for a woman in this situation."
Perinatal Loss
The Miscarriage Map: What To Expect When You Are No Longer Expecting
By Dr. Sunita Osborn
" With unflinching honesty and fearless humor, psychologist Dr. Sunita Osborn addresses the relevant but often unspoken topics following a miscarriage including the impact of miscarriage on a relationship, hating pregnant people and all things baby after miscarriage, your relationship with your body after miscarriage, and how to move forward (not past)."
Empty Arms: Coping With Miscarriage, Stillbirth and Infant Death
By Sherokee Ilse
"Empty Arms is written for Surviving the First Hours and Beyond. It offers ongoing support about subjects such as returning to work or to life, couple grieving, surviving children, feeling guilty, having another child or not, and feeling lonely."
Holding on to Love After You've Lost a Baby: The Five Love Languages for Grieving Parents
By Gary Chapman, PhD and Candy McVicar
"Losing a child is among the most tragic experiences one can face. The crushing grief puts immense strain on the marriage, family relationships, and friendships that few can understand. That’s why this book was written. In it Candy McVicar, a grieving mom who leads a ministry for grieving parents, and Dr. Gary Chapman, relationship expert and author of The 5 Love Languages®, team up to help couples who are facing the unimaginable."
At a Loss: Finding Your Way After, Miscarriage, Stillbirth, or Infant Death
By Donna Rothert, PhD
"Written by a psychologist who experienced two pregnancy losses herself, At a Loss offers thirty essays on the thoughts, feelings, and struggles that come along with losing a pregnancy or baby. Whether you are early in a crisis of grief or exploring the loss years afterward, you will find self-compassion, healing, and new ways to make meaning of your loss."
He Lost His Baby Too: Survival Guide for the Grieving Dad
By Kelly Farley with Dvid Dicola
This book was written specifically for fathers grappling with the unbearable aftermath of losing a baby. It is all too easy for a bereaved father to succumb to a haunting sense of isolation after such a loss. However, within these pages lies a lifeline—a survival guide infused with wisdom, providing a roadmap through the complicated path of grief.
Options Counseling --Ending a Wanted Pregnancy
By Christie Brooks
"This book is about abortion, but more specifically, about abortions sought due to a poor prenatal diagnosis or due to serious maternal health complications. There is very little societal support for parents who make this decision, which leaves most parents to deal with their sadness and grief alone.The purpose of the book is to share our stories in the hopes of helping other parents who have undergone a similar loss to feel less alone, less isolated, and less stigmatized."
Depression/Anxiety
Happiness Trap: How to Stop Struggling and Start Living
By Russ Harris
"Russ Harris explains that the way most of us go about trying to find happiness ends up making us miserable, driving the epidemics of stress, anxiety, and depression. This empowering book presents the insights and techniques of ACT (Acceptance and Commitment Therapy) a revolutionary new psychotherapy based on cutting-edge research in behavioral psychology. By clarifying your values and developing mindfulness (a technique for living fully in the present moment), ACT helps you escape the happiness trap and find true satisfaction in life."
Panic
By Martin M Antony, PhD and Randi E McCabe PhD
“Learn how to monitor your episodes of panic, and find out how to replace your anxious, racing inner monologue with calm, realistic thinking. Discover safe and comfortable ways to face fearful situations. Breathing exercises, stress reduction techniques round out this approach to overcoming panic that promises to restore your security and peace of mind.”
Grief
Honoring Grief: Creating a Space to Let Yourself Heal
By Alexandra Kennedy, MA
“Honoring Grief provides powerful and compassionate advice for dealing with loss. Compatible with any religious or spiritual orientation, this book aims to help readers create a sanctuary―a special space where they are free to work through the difficult emotions that accompany grief.”
Coping with Difficult Personalities
Emotional Vampires: Dealing with People Who Drain You Dry, Revised and Expanded 2nd Edition
By Albert Bernstein, Ph.D.
Emotional Vampires will help you cope effectively with the people in your life that confound you, confuse you, and seem to sap every ounce of your energy.
Relationship Ambivalence/Single-hood
By Mira Kirshenbaum
T"here are many books that promise to help you fix a bad relationship. This groundbreaking bestseller is the first one to help you choose whether you should even try—or if you need to go."
Single: The Art of Being Satisfied, Fulfilled, and Independent
By Judy Ford
“Single is......not a condition to be cured...it's just as natural as being part of a couple. Its wisdom is contagious. Its message is powerful."