Introduction to Guide
Welcome to Read to Restore: Leisure Books for Mental Wellness! This guide contains a bibliography of leisure reading materials intended to support good mental health and well-being. Throughout the pages, you will also find links to music, videos, and additional resources to promote mental health. Browse the tabs on the left-hand side to find books from various genres and subject areas to help you de-stress, recharge, and practice good mental health!
Note: This guide is not a source of clinical or diagnostic information. If you or someone you know is in need of counseling help, please refer to the links on the right side bar.
The Good Life: Lessons from the World's Longest Scientific Study of Happiness
What makes a life fulfilling and meaningful? The simple but surprising answer is: relationships. The stronger our relationships, the more likely we are to live happy, satisfying, and healthier lives. In fact, the Harvard Study of Adult Development reveals that the strength of our connections with others can predict the health of both our bodies and our brains as we go through life. The insights in this book emerge from the revealing personal stories of hundreds of participants in the Harvard Study as they were followed year after year for their entire adult lives, and this wisdom was bolstered by research findings from many other studies. Relationships in all their forms--friendships, romantic partnerships, families, coworkers, tennis partners, book club members, Bible study groups--all contribute to a happier, healthier life.
Enchantment: Awakening Wonder in an Anxious Age
Many of us feel trapped in a grind of constant change: rolling news cycles, the chatter of social media, our families split along partisan lines. We feel fearful and tired, on edge in our bodies, not quite knowing what has us perpetually depleted. For Katherine May, this low hum of fatigue and anxiety made her wonder what she was missing. Could there be a different way to relate to the world, one that would allow her to feel more rested and at ease, even as seismic changes unfold on the planet? Might there be a way for all of us to move through life with curiosity and tenderness, sensitized to the subtle magic all around? In Enchantment, May invites the reader to come with her on a journey to reawaken our innate sense of wonder and awe.
Reclaiming the Black Body
An essential exploration of the overlooked impact of disordered eating among Black women-and a prescriptive road map to returning to wholeness within our bodies, from the clinical therapist who founded Black and Embodied Counseling and Consulting PLLC.
The Balanced Brain
How we can use what we've learned about the brain to improve our mental health There are many routes to mental well-being. In this groundbreaking book, neuroscientist Camilla Nord offers a fascinating tour of the scientific developments that are revolutionising the way we think about mental health, showing why and how events--and treatments--can affect people in such different ways.
Profiles in Mental Health Courage
Profiles in Mental Health Courage portrays the journeys of twenty unique Americans who have struggled with different illnesses affecting mental health. This book offers deeply compelling stories about the courage of those battling with a variety of illnesses, from college students to professionals across politics and government, Hollywood and the arts, and tech and business.
Men Have Called Her Crazy
In early 2021, popular artist Anna Marie Tendler checked herself into a psychiatric hospital following a year of crippling anxiety, depression, and self-harm. Over two weeks, she underwent myriad psychological tests, participated in numerous therapy sessions, connected with fellow patients and experienced profound breakthroughs, such as when a doctor noted, "There is a you inside that feels invisible to those looking at you from the outside." In Men Have Called Her Crazy, Tendler recounts her hospital experience as well as pivotal moments in her life that preceded and followed.
We Need to Hang Out: A Memoir of Making Friends
At the age of forty, having settled into his busy career and active family life, Billy Baker discovers that he's lost something crucial along the way: his friends. Other priorities always seemed to come first, until all his close friendships became distant memories. When he takes an assignment to write an article about the modern loneliness epidemic, he realizes just how common it is to be a middle-aged loner: almost fifty million Americans over the age of forty-five, especially men, suffer from chronic loneliness, which the surgeon general has declared one of the nation's "greatest pathologies," worse than smoking, obesity, or heart disease in increasing a person's risk for premature death. Determined to defy these odds, Baker vows to salvage his lost friendships and blaze a path for men (and women) everywhere to improve their relationships old and new.
Rewilding the Urban Soul: Searching for the Wild in the City
Once upon a time, a burned-out Claire Dunn spent a year living off the grid in a wilderness survival program. Yet love and the possibilities of human connection drew her back to the city, where she soon found herself as overscheduled, addicted to her phone, and lost in IKEA as the rest of us. Given all the city offers--comfort, convenience, community, and opportunity--she wants to stay. But to do so, she'll have to learn how to rewild her own urban soul. Claire swims in city rivers, forages in the suburbs, and explores many other practices to connect to the world around her. Rewilding the Urban Soul is a field guide to being at one with nature, wherever you are.
All Sky, Mirror Ocean
All Sky, Mirror Ocean is for everyone looking to understand the complex issues around mental illness and healing. Combining autobiography, research-creation, poetry, and creative philosophy, Brad Necyk uses art and words to uncover and tell new stories about trauma and recovery.
There's Nothing Wrong with Her
For months, Vita has been sick with an illness that no doctor, not even Max, can diagnose. And recently, Luigi, a Renaissance poet nursing a 500-year-old heartbreak, has started showing up at her bedside, bringing snacks and unsolicited romantic advice. He says he's come to release her. The issue is: he may be a ghost, an apparition of her sickly mind. Then, when an unexpected mix-up pushes her into the path of her upstairs neighbors, Vita finds friendship--and perhaps more--in the apartment above. But something about her "condition" keeps nagging at her. What if the problem is Vita herself? Because as far as anyone can prove . . . there's nothing wrong with her.
How to use this guide
For each book on this guide, there are two links next to the title that you can use to find copies of the book:
1. DePaul Library Catalog
The first link is a graphic of a book that will direct you to the book in the DePaul Library catalog. Only those affiliated with DePaul are able to access print books and ebooks in the library collection.
This link is intended for DePaul University students, faculty, and staff.
2. WorldCat Catalog
The second link is a graphic of a computer screen that will direct you to the book in the WorldCat catalog and display a list of libraries worldwide that own the book. You can change the location and distance to see where the book is available near you. If a library near you does not have the title, you can ask your library for an inter-library loan!
This link is intended for the general public and users outside of DePaul University.
Supported by a Carnegie Whitney Grant from the American Library Association
The creation of this guide was supported by the American Library Association (ALA) Carnegie-Whitney Grant. The Carnegie-Whitney Grant provides grants for the preparation of popular or scholarly reading lists, webliographies, indexes and other guides to library resources that will be useful to users of all types of libraries in the United States.
Acknowledgements
This guide was curated through the joint efforts of Susan Shultz, Grace Spiewak, and Kristin Lansdown of the DePaul University Library. Thank you to Haley Sauls, our student research assistant of the University of South Florida, for helping create this guide and designing the graphics and images.
Quick Links - General
Below are resources that can be used by anyone in the United States:
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Psychology TodayIf you feel that you are in need of counseling, Psychology Today can connect you with a therapist in your area that takes your insurance.
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APA Psychologist LocatorFind a psychologist in a location near you through the American Psychological Association's search tool.
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Therapy for Black GirlsTherapy for Black Girls is dedicated to creating a space to foster the mental wellness of Black women and girls. Here you can find therapy treatment for Black women, by Black women! Therapists are available to be seen in-person or on-line.
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Inclusive TherapistsInclusive Therapists seeks to connect help people match with therapists that share marginalized identities. Therapists are available to be seen in-person or on-line.
Quick Links - DePaul Services
Below are a list of campus resources for DePaul University students:
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University Counseling & Psychological ServicesUCAPS provides counseling services to students conducted by licensed professionals.
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Health & WellnessClick here to find services to aid in student wellness including substance abuse support, and relationship violence prevention.