Healing through Books & Reading - Some Recommendations for Your Mental Health Toolbox

While I was working through my mental health challenges in the past few years, I found some books that allowed me to heal from the trauma I'd endured.

Here are three recommendations that helped me better understand my own history and how it played a role in my present mental state. 

#1:     The Body Keeps the Score by Bessel Van der Kolk, M.D.

"Mind over matter" is the mantra of people who really, truly believe you can overcome anything if you just set your mind to it. 

In fact, I admit I have said this a few times, and I hate that I've said it.

I didn't realize that the trauma I had sustained changed me in ways I hadn't recognized until I started working with a domestic violence therapist. 

She taught me that I was trying to maintain a healthy mindset - my "house" as she put it - on an unstable, compromised foundation.

When I read The Body Keeps the Score, I realized that no matter how courageous I thought I was, I had to address major traumas in my life before I could move forward in my life and career. 

Because no matter what, trauma stayed within my body, manifesting in blocked intuition, disabled decision-making, and complete and utter mental exhaustion. 

#2:     Scattered Minds by Gabor Maté M.D.

Gabor Maté MD has ADHD, he is a parent, and he is a doctor who has researched the mind to the nth degree. He is a soft-spoken expert on brain development, and specializes in brain development in neurodivergent people.

When I was diagnosed with ADHD in 2022 and later, with some form of Autism Spectrum Disorder in 2024, I realized that the reason I had gone undiagnosed for 42 and 44 years, is because I can mask like a master. It's not something I do intentionally, but it's a self-protective tool that I developed because of my upbringing. 

This book also helped me understand how my upbringing shaped my mental health, emotional wellness, and brain development. It also helped me build my understanding of how environmental stress - even things that seem a bit minor - can make things a lot more complicated later in life.

I highly recommend this book if you suspect you might be neurodivergent. It's expansive and inclusive enough that it offers sort of a birds' eye view of all kinds of neurodivergence and mental health. 

#3:     What Happened to You? by Bruce D. Perry, M.D., Ph.D and Oprah Winfrey

Has anyone ever said, "What is WRONG with you?" Well, it's happened to me. And I've also asked myself that question... usually after I do something I really regret... through clenched teeth. "What's WRONG with me?"

This book turns that question on its head, focusing instead on asking, "What happened to you?" 

Similar to other Oprah books, this one is essentially a rehash of multiple conversations between both Oprah and Dr. Bruce Perry, author of "The Boy Who Was Raised as a Dog." 

Essentially based on the idea of Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs), this book explores all the different ways we can be negatively impacted throughout our lives. It also delves into examples of people who have survived and thrived beyond traumatic experiences and developed resilience because of it. 

This is a book I bought and am keeping as part of my permanent collection, because I've read it twice, and both times I found different insights both times I've read it.

As a side note, it is my personal opinion that any book that Oprah writes on trauma is going to be worthwhile reading.

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Esther Hofknecht Curtis, MSM-HCA is an independent writer/blogger based in Dover, Delaware. She can be reached at ejhcurtis@gmail.com.