We are in the process of revitalizing our social sciences section, and there are two new, and one upcoming, psychology books in particular that I have found are wonderful reads!
1. The Collected Schizophrenias, by Esme Weijun Wang. I cannot recommend this book enough! Esme details her struggles with both schizoaffective disorder and chronic illness, relating her personal demons to the greater world. Her essays cover everything from the failure of the higher educational system to appropriately deal with students’ mental illnesses, to medical disagreements over the form and function of diagnoses, to issues with the mental hospital system; but also go into great (and spooky) detail on her various psychoses and how it affects how she presents herself to the world. For anybody wanting to understand either a person with severe mental illness, or the forces they are fighting against, this book is quite enlightening. (Available Now)
2. Never Enough, by Judith Grisel. When it comes to addiction, there are many competing theories and it can be hard to make sense of it all. Judith has written a book that condenses the latest research on how addiction affects the brain, as well as presenting chapters on each class of drug that explains exactly how they affect the brain and the person taking them, making it so that there is “never enough” of a drug for an addict. Her book contains snippets of her personal experience, as she was addicted for many years prior to sobering up and getting into neuroscience, and she also suggests public policy reforms that are more in line with the latest research. Highly recommended for anybody in recovery, anybody who knows an addict, those who work with the addicted population, and those in public service who have the power to change policies that hurt addicts – who are just people with broken brains. (Available Now)
3. The Wisdom of Anxiety, by Sheryl Paul. Like many adults in the United States, I have suffered with anxiety for a significant portion of my life. If you also fit into this category, this book is for you! Sheryl reveals that those feelings of anxiety that we want to hide from are actually signals from the body that are trying to tell us that something is wrong. Whether that something is internal or external, Sheryl is here to help with a combination of Jungian theory and practical exercises designed to increase mindfulness and access the body’s hidden knowledge. She explains how various life transitions can increase anxiety – everything from the changing of day into night to the fear of death. Learning that many other people have anxiety about the same things that I do was rather comforting in itself! I have also been finding the exercises she prescribes to be immensely useful; I feel that my anxiety has decreased dramatically since I got a hold of this book and started to discover my inner wisdom (thanks, Harriett!) (Available May 28, 2019)
–Reviews by Julie