Bailey’s Hi-5: 5 Books Anyone with Anxiety Should Read

In Wednesday Wisdom, here’s Bailey’s Book Club edition:

If you’ve ever had any kind of anxiety, you’ve probably tried everything in your power to make it stop (or, at least, make it feel a little less overwhelming). One route you might not have considered? Reading—specifically, reading books that deal directly with what causes anxiety and how to manage it. Here are six of our go-to titles.

1. You are Here: An Owners Manual for Dangerous Minds by Jenny Lawson. Part therapy, part humour and part colouring book, Lawson draws on the belief of art therapy to help readers cope with anxiety and general negative feelings. Lawson is candid about her personal struggles, and in doing so makes the reader feel comfortable airing her own grievances.
2. The Highly Sensitive Person by Elaine N. Aron, PHD: According to a study published in the journal Brain and Behavior, 20 percent of the population is considered highly sensitive, or biologically wired to be more sensitive and responsive to the world around them. Highly sensitive people (HSPs) are often more prone to anxiety. In this book, Dr. Aron, a psychotherapist and highly sensitive person herself, shows you how to identify this trait in yourself and make the most of it in everyday situations.
3. Declutter your Mind by S.J Scott and Barrie Davenport. This one is more of a traditional self-help book, and sometimes that’s what you need. Declutter Your Mind aims to “teach you the habits, actions, and mindsets to clean up the mental clutter that’s holding you back from living a meaningful life.” How? By explaining what causes mental clutter, providing strategies to reframe negative thoughts and guides to meditation and deep breathing.
4. My Age of Anxiety: Fear, Hope, Dread and the Search for Peace of Mind by Scott Stossel. Drawing on his own long-standing battle with anxiety, Stossel’s book is an intimate history of efforts by scientists, philosophers and writers to understand anxiety. He also describes the countless psychotherapies, medications and sometimes kooky treatments that have been developed to relieve it, combining science and personal experience in a way that’s easy to read and hugely relatable.

5. The Life Changing Magic of Not Giving a F*ck by Sarah Knight. Riffing on the title of Marie Kondo’s smash-hit The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up, Knight’s book is all about the art of caring less and getting more. She hilariously lays out rules for ridding yourself of unwanted obligations without feeling guilty, steps for decluttering your mind and tips for channeling your energy toward things that actually matter. The New York Times Book Review called it “the self-help equivalent of a Weird Al parody song.”