October is National Book Month! To celebrate, treat yourself to one of Lifeologie Counseling’s favorite titles. While we can’t endorse every word or concept listed below, our clients have found these books to be very useful.
"Books are my friends, my companions. They make me laugh and cry and find meaning in life." Christopher Paolini, Eragon
Couples therapist Esther Perel explains how to overcome barriers that can kill sexual desire in marriage and domestic partnerships – including our Western obsession with happiness that sets unrealistic expectations for what to expect from relationships.
This updated version of Faber’s original classic has excellent, realistic suggestions for coping with children’s disappointment, anger, and frustration, encouraging resilience and independence, and keeping your cool during challenging moments.
Family therapist Jamie B. Raser spent 40 years counseling parents, and learned that teaching them about human interaction built a better foundation than trying to teach them manipulations or techniques designed to control their children’s behavior. He gives common challenges as scenarios and offers real-world advice for handling them as they arise.
American author and queer activist Doyle left behind a traditional marriage and family and years of being a good girl when she fell in love, quickly and unexpectedly, with professional soccer player Abby Wambach. She quit worrying about being perfect for other people and started taking responsibility for her own wants and needs, ultimately setting boundaries with her family of origin and children’s father and creating a new blended family with Wambach. Raw, painful, and inspiring for all women.
Psychologist Alan Downs offers strategies for gay men to conquer self-defeating behaviors, based on his years of research, patient anecdotes, and his own experiences to help destigmatize the journey for gay men who struggle with avoidance and shame.
Ian Morgan Cron and Suzanne Stabile explore the possibilities of using this specific tool for exploring personality types as a Christian spiritual connection to deeper knowledge of self, compassion for others, and love for God.
Late Type 4 author Don Richard Riso (with Russ Hudson) offers questionnaires and detailed individual profiles to explain personality types that encourage you to explore personal transformation. An insightful combination of spirituality and psychology.
This vital book explains in lay terms how traumatic stress is associated with functional and chemical changes in the part of the brain that regulates emotion, causing traumatic memories to remain vivid in people who have Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). It’s filled with equal parts scientific research and empathetic understanding, and is helpful for anyone seeking to understand how fear and trauma can be understood and overcome.
Trauma may pass through generations and lead to mental illness, including depression, anxiety, and physical manifestations. This trauma may not have an identifiable underlying cause in the children or grandchildren of those affected, yet their trauma symptoms are very real.
Ever wondered what your therapist is thinking while you’re crying on their couch? It turns out they’re probably just as flawed as you are, and may be in therapy themselves. This funny, insightful, brutally honest book follows therapist Lori Gottlieb going down every rabbit hole she warns her own clients not to take, and learning to empathize and connect with them in a whole new way. It does include discussions of real-life traumatic events, but also shows the author and others learning to process disappointment and live a less-than-perfect life with great joy.
The author was Vice President of Talent at Comedy Central, so you can be sure this memoirist knows how to engage an audience. What’s even more helpful than her self-deprecating and relatable humor alongside her struggles with suicidal ideation are how she organizes each chapter, ending each with a “Little Thing That Helps”.