Anxiety is an underlying cause of addiction. Calm Your Mind with Food: A Revolutionary Guide to Controlling Your Anxiety, by addressing anxiety through food and nutrition choices, is a helpful guide for those in recovery. Dr. Uma Naidoo strikes a good balance between scientific explanations and practical advice. The book includes recipes and meal plans to calm the mind, and

Randye Kaye is a radio personality, actress, speaker and podcaster (Schizophrenia: 3 Moms in the Trenches), who performed a one-woman show on Wednesday, November 12, 2025 in Fairfield.  She is also the author of an honest, vulnerable book that delves into her son’s long journey with addiction and paranoid schizophrenia. Her story is inspirational to others also addressing severe mental

This book is part memoir and part “how to”, helping those addicted to THC and their loved ones consider change and eventually “breaking up” with marijuana. The author is a therapist who himself became dependent and then used his learnings about recovery to help his clients.  “The tampering of our ability to think and act beyond instinct is something humans

There seems to be a countertrend taking place against the “mommy wine culture”, with women sharing stories of why they drank, how they stopped, and the joys of being more present in their lives. This book contains many stories of why women drank, how they stopped, and the rewards of being more present in their lives. While AA is a solution cited frequently

Engagement in recovery is one of the most courageous acts for a human being, because one’s entire being is turned—body, mind, AND spirit. In Rise in Recovery, author Kimberly Berlin offers a paradigm shift for recovery from addiction: that spiritual practices rewire and heal the brain. Spirituality, as she defines it, is just a sense of connection to something bigger than ourselves. 

Taken from talks that Pema Chödrön gave in the 1990s, When Things Fall Apart is a treasury of wisdomfor going on living when we are overcome by pain and difficulties. An America-born Tibetan Buddhist, Pema draws from traditional Buddhist wisdom to offer a way to rethink our lives and lean into discomfort and struggles in order to live a more

This book was inspired by the author’s success helping his brother Henry, who had schizophrenia, accept treatment. Dr. Xavier Amador shares his own personal experience with specific tips and recommendations based on LEAP (Listen, Empathize, Agree, Partner). He designed LEAP to help family members with loved ones who don’t recognize they have a severe mental health condition like schizophrenia. The

What are the best strategies, big or small, to help a loved one find and sustain recovery? Author JasonCoombs offers practical guidance to empower and educate family members and friends. None of thetips offered by author Jason Coombs are new. However, Jason used them and watched family members(namely his mother) use them to success. So he logically details his recommendations

This book is a mash-up of specific and directed meditative exercises and the neuroscience of why,biologically, each exercise bolsters psychological health. The goal is to increase resilience–to change the brain to respond to the inevitable twists and turns of life. Author Graham describes what she calls the 5C’s of coping, and describes how different exercises will increase oxytocin and fully

Rick Hanson, PhD is a psychologist, author, and expert on positive neuroplasticity, who developed thisbook from his popular online course called The Foundations of Well-Being. In Resilient, he discusses 12different ‘tools’ which help activate inner strength and resilience of character. Each tool is a separatechapter, so I skipped around to chapters I particularly liked such as “Courage” and “Aspiration”. Thebook