Scroll to top
Keen to grow your brand
Reach out to us at
hello@theideaslab.com
Keen to grow with us?
Reach out to us at
careers@dssc.co
The Lab Mag Headquarters
D-115, Dron Marg
Defence Colony, New Delhi - 110024

The Therapeutic Shelf – 8 books for coping and comfort

A mental health reading list to help you relax
mental health reading list

Some days are worse than others. I’ve been actively doing therapy for months, have my best friend on speed dial, journaling my thoughts, eating better, even hitting the gym almost regularly, yet — some days are simply worse than others.

I’m not a trained professional, and what works for me may not work for you. But for me, when nothing helps, and I’d rather not sit alone with my feelings, a good book has been a place to start. Over the years, this coping mechanism has helped me build a mental health reading list that I often turn to for comfort.

From memoirs and self-help guides to poetry and fiction – my mental health reading list spans genres, styles, and formats. The written word has a unique ability to offer comfort and clarity. Research suggests that reading for six minutes is said to reduce stress by 68%.

Now, I understand that books require investment and cannot be a quick fix — but they’re a healthy and prolonged distraction that may aid our healing journey as opposed to taking away from it.

Here is my mental health reading list – these books calmed my nerves, took bits of my life, retold them and slightly but surely, healed them.

A mental health reading list for coping, healing, and comfort

1. The Forty Rules of Love by Elif Shafak

mental health reading list

Photo: Amazon.in

About the book: Ella, an unhappy housewife, takes up a job at a literary agency at the age of forty. She receives a book Sweet Blasphemy for appraisal that centres around the thirteenth-century Persian and Sufi poet Rumi and his companion Shams of Tabriz’s forty rules for love. Through parallel narratives, the novel explores the transformative power of love and spirituality, offering a new perspective to Ella.

From the book: “‘For despite what some people say, love is not a sweet feeling bound to come and quickly go away. In many ways, the twenty-first century is not that different from the thirteenth century. Both will be recorded in history as times of unprecedented religious clashes, cultural misunderstandings, and a general sense of insecurity and fear of the Other. At times like these, the need for love is greater than ever. Because love is the very essence and purpose of life. As Rumi reminds us, it hits everybody, including those who shun love – even those who use the word “romantic” as a sign of disapproval.’ ”

Click here to get a copy.

2. Em and the Big Hoom by Jerry Pinto

mental health reading list

Photo: Amazon.in

About the book: The Mendes family is a close-knit family of four living in Goa. The parents, Imelda and Augustine, affectionately referred to as Em and the Big Hoom, have two children, Susan, and the unnamed narrator son. Em struggles with bipolar disorder that threatens to take over her life. Through his intimate and heartrending narrative, the son recounts his parents’ early life and the challenges of coping with Em’s unpredictable and debilitating illness.

From the book: “If there was one thing I feared as I was growing up . . .No, that’s stupid. I feared hundreds of things: the dark, the death of my father, the possibility that I might rejoice the death of my mother, sums involving vernier calipers, groups of schoolboys with nothing much to do, death by drowning.

But of all these, I feared the most the possibility that I might go mad too.”

Click here to get a copy.

3. Maybe You Should Talk To Someone by Lori Gottlieb

mental health reading list

Photo: Amazon.in

About the book: This book is a memoir about Lori Gottlieb’s journey as therapist, as a patient in therapy and about her clients. She shares stories of her clients and her struggles, including a difficult breakup. She also reflects on the therapeutic process and the importance of seeking help when we need it.

From the book: “But many people come to therapy seeking closure. Help me not to feel. What they eventually discover is that you can’t mute one emotion without muting the others. You want to mute the pain? You’ll also mute the joy.”

Click here to get a copy.

4. The Harry Potter Series by JK Rowling

mental health reading list

Photo: Amazon.in

About this series: A young orphan boy, Harry Potter, finds himself at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. It’s here that he learns magic, finds lifelong friendships, love and mentorships. But he must also face many challenges, including the threat of the dark wizard… who must not be named.

From the series: “Of course it is happening inside your head, Harry, but why on earth should that mean that it is not real?” – Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows

Click here to get a copy.

5. Before the Coffee Gets Cold by Toshikazu Kawaguchi

mental health reading list

Photo: Amazon.in

About the book: A small cafe in Tokyo gives its customers the opportunity to go back in time, however there are some rules. One being, you must come back before your coffee gets cold, or you’ll be stuck in the past forever. Through the stories of the various customers that visit the cafe, the book explores themes like regret, hope, forgiveness and the fleeting and experiential nature of a ‘time.’

From the book: “At the end of the day, whether one returns to the past or travels to the future, the present doesn’t change.”

Click here to get a copy.

6. The Unbearable Lightness of Being by Milan Kundera

mental health reading list

Photo: Amazon.in

About the book: A book about life, the contrasting concepts of “weight” and “lightness,” and the meaning we add to living, time and the fleeting nature of it all. Milan Kundera’s book is about four characters living in Prague during the Soviet occupation that reads like a philosophy on love, sex and the nature of human existence.

From the book: “There is no means of testing which decision is better, because there is no basis for comparison. We live everything as it comes, without warning, like an actor going on cold. And what can life be worth if the first rehearsal for life is life itself?”

Click here to get a copy.

7. All About Love: New Visions by Bell Hooks

mental health reading list

Photo: Amazon.in

About the book: A non-fiction book about love and its various roles in our life. We’ve all felt love, but the book examines, how barriers such as patriarchy, fear, and racism may affect an individual’s understanding of it. It offers insights into how changing our ideas about love has the potential of transforming society as a whole.

From the book: “Schools for love do not exist. everyone assumes that we will know how to love instinctively. Despite overwhelming evidence to the contrary, we still accept that the family is the primary school for love. Those of us who do not learn how to love among family are expected to experience love in romantic relationships. however this love often eludes us.”

Click here to get a copy.

8. It’s All in Your Head by Manjiri Indurkar

mental health reading list

Photo: Amazon.in

About the book: A woman in her twenties memoirs her experience with child abuse, the rage around the silence of those who knew, mental illness and its physical manifestation. Ultimately, it’s about her battle with her anxiety, grief and how she coped with it all. The book is poignant, and speaks to survivors of abuse in a very real manner, even offering a sliver of hope in the form of acceptance, self-care and resilience.

From the book: “My life-altering moment was terrible by all standards, but it didn’t leave any visible scars. Hiding it was easy, so I kept quiet about it, even to myself. Instead of acknowledging it, I told myself I felt nothing. And for a while, I did feel nothing. It took me nearly a quarter of a century and one epic stomach ache to realise that my life was falling apart.”

Click here to get a copy.